Gardening with a Spoon

For years my mom had soil envy.

Mike look at this! Do you see this? Mom would ask my father with disbelief as loose soil from my gardens spilled from her hands. You could garden with a spoon here!
Truth be told, you almost could. My first gardens were blessed with sandy soil. I was new to gardening so I did not fully appreciate, at first, the luxury I had of sandy soil. Couple that with a limitless supply of free, black soil and you had a gardener’s dream.

After a few years of gardening and acquiring quality tools, it was not unrealistic to design and install a sizable garden over a weekend. The sod came up with ease. And the yard waste center, which provided free, black soil every Wednesday and Saturday, was minutes from my house. A large trailer made quick work of countless yards of soil (easily into the hundreds) at no cost.

I had rich soil that drained with ease. I had free mulch from the same yard waste center as well as neighbors who were more than willing to give me pine straw if I helped them rake their yards. Nothing is nicer on bare feet than a garden path made of white pine needles.

It was a gardener’s dream. I spent most of my time planning, designing, shopping and installing plants and very little time prepping soil. I will spare you how ridiculously little time it would take me to dig a pond; in part because now I know just why my mom was jealous of my soil.

My first garden in Cincy was a rude wake up call. Welcome to the land of clay! Ah, but where there are gardening challenges one finds gardening rewards!