It seemed innocent enough. Purchasing two small patio tomato plants already with small green fruits in April. They would provide enough for a few tasty sandwiches, and some greenery on the front deck.

So much for simple ideas.

These two plants got Mary and I to thinking. It had been maybe 15 years since I had planted a garden, and here at our rented place in the woods there was a nice garden spot with plenty of sun. Sure, it had been abandoned for three or four years, but the soil looked good and the basics for a fence were there.

So, I made a trip to the hardware store for some 1/8” steel cable to tie the tops of the 10’ tall posts around the plot together. Then a stop at my shop to pick up 10 2x4s and some tools and a step ladder. I was ready.

As luck would have it this was one of the first clear hot days in late May, and I felt like relaxing, but what the hell. I was going to make a garden.

I spent the next five hours digging holes and installing the 2x4s vertically between the existing posts, and then stapling the cable 8 ½’ above the ground. Then I salvaged about 200’ of soft wire that the homeowner had used for electric fencing. Then I wove the soft wire vertically between the top cable and the sagging 5’ high chicken wire that was all around the plot. When stretched tight, this web made a barrier I hoped would keep the deer out.

So far, I had spent $18, 34 miles of driving, and six hours fetching and sweating…but I had a garden space. Sitting on the porch swing with a cup of coffee that evening, I enjoyed the sunset and grinned. I was on my way to having a garden.

The following Saturday was going to be a big one. Wednesday I made a trip to Northwest Seed and Pet and busted through the garden department. Zucchini, corn, spinach, peppers, beets, cantaloupe, yellow squash, two kinds of potatoes, peas, and beans. Oh wait, I forgot the carrots. Let’s see, Danvers Long, Nantes, or Short and Sweet? Too many choices for an out of practice farmer.

Now I had two full days to plan the best use of seemingly too small of a space. I forgot to mention the garden space measured about 30×30’.

On Friday afternoon, on my way home, I stopped and was happy to pay $15 to rent a very heavy roto tiller and of course another $3 to rent a ramp to drive the beast in and out of my pickup truck. Now I was ready for action!

Six am and I was raring to go. Dressed, fed, and coffeed, I maneuvered that red monster through the garden gate and launched into battle.

The previous week it had rained a couple of days and then the sun came out blazing. All the right conditions for rapid and luxurious growth. There was only one problem. The past four years of neglect had resulted in a very dense crop of grass and weeds. I had mowed two or three times, but that last week of growth was amazing. It was like the plants sensed it was their last, and they were not going under without a fight. Somehow even this did not deter me. I was making a garden.

Three hours and two tanks of gas later, I was as done as I was going to be. I had tilled lengthwise, sideways, diagonally, and backwards. My dusty chest and back were sweat-tracked and my shoes were full of dirt, but I felt good. I felt both spiritually and literally part of the earth. I could see it, smell it, taste it, and I let it run through my fingers. There was something satisfying about tilling the soil. And then maybe a little smugness in my getting to play in the dirt without getting in trouble. I was in my garden!

Now raking level and smooth and sifting out some of the roots and weeds. This was getting better all the time.

After a too-short break wolfing down a sandwich with a cold beer came the next challenge. My body screamed NAP! But my mind said back to work.

So out with the stakes, twine, and spacing stick so I could have nice straight rows evenly spaced at just the right intervals for optimum use of the space. It was beginning to look like I knew something about gardening. When I finished it looked wonderful.

Now, the reason I had done all this work. Sowing the seeds took on an almost religious feeling. With great ceremony I opened each seed packet, carefully spaced the kernels of life under the twine and gently, but firmly covered them with soft soil. I then anointed them with a gentle spray of water from the hose and was finished.

I was offering life to those dormant nuggets of energy. We would soon benefit from and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

The next week at my shop, I cut out and carved a wooden pumpkin, carrot, and some other vegetable, glued them onto a board, and painted everything. When I got home, I mounted the sign above the gate and was done until harvest.

Somewhere there is at least one photo of this garden space and the sign. Probably in the pile of photos I sent to my daughter, Kirsten, for archiving.

Ken Kaiyala
Spring 1991

Addendum:
Unfortunately, our harvest wasn’t as bountiful as I had hoped. The summer was unbearably hot and all those weeds and the grass I had spent so much labor destroying came back with a vengeance and overtook a lot of the garden. So much for farming.

Also, one afternoon when I returned home there was a deer hanging halfway through the top wire mesh I had put up. It had tried to jump the fence, but apparently didn’t see the wires. It was half in and half out. What to do? I grabbed a 6” stick from the garage and walked up behind it. It was bawling but so tired from trying to untangle itself it had stopped kicking. I gently placed the stick against the deer’s butt and pushed him the rest of the way into garden.

When it landed it went berserk running frantically around looking for a way out so I opened the gate and stood behind it as it shot out, up the hill and out of sight in the blink of an eye. I guess that was my good deed for the summer.