Gardening with dad

As I was growing up, I was very aware of gardens. My grandparents would take me out to the back lot and I would watch as they picked tomatoes and beans. I would pick a few, but got bored very easily and decided to run and jump in the dirt. Now that was fun.

When I was 10 years old, my family moved to Cape Girardeau. There was a vacant lot between us and the neighbors. While talking with the neighbor who owned the lot, Dad was offered to use of that lot for a vegetable garden. He promptly agreed to use it for a vegetable garden and told the neighbor that they could pick vegetables out of the garden as "rent" for the use of the garden space.

My initial job was to till the garden since it had laid fallow for several years. At that time in the 1950s motorized garden tillers were just beginning to be available on the market. They were not cheap. Since Dad was just beginning a new job we did not have a lot of money. So my job was to "till" the garden by using a spade.

Tilling a 50-by-50 garden using a spade is very time consuming and strenuous. I would have to spade the soil for a while, and then take a break. It would usually take me over a week to get the garden spaded. Then I would have to use a garden rake to break up the clods and smooth out the soil surface in the garden. It would usually take me over a week to get the garden prepped for planting seeds.

Then Dad and I would plant the garden seed in rows. We would then water to get the garden seed to start their germination process.

As the garden seed began to germinate, so did weed seed. So it was my job to weekly hoe the garden to get rid of those pesky weeds. I had to learn the different growth characteristics of weeds versus garden plants. If I "hoed" a vegetable plant I would get into trouble. So I really had to watch what I was doing.

Dad showed me how to fertilize the seeds as they began to grow. He didn't explain the fertilizer numbers of N, P, and K. But I knew they were somehow important.

I would have to check the soil for moisture on a regular basis. If I thought the soil needed water, I would check with Dad to make sure he agreed with my assessment. If it needed water I would set up the sprinkler and turn on the water spigot. We always watered in the morning so the moisture would not stay on the garden plants during the night. He said this kept bad things from happening to the garden plants.

All of our efforts resulted in picking vegetables in the later part of the summer. They sure tasted good after mom did her magic and placed them on the dinner table.

Each year when Father's Day rolls around, I think of Dad and how he taught me so many things. I really believe my interest in forestry, landscaping, and lawn care was a result of my Dad teaching me how to garden. Happy Father's Day.