Mommy, are we going to grow horses?

After a lot of plant pulling, soil tilling, poo spreading and determination we finally got the garden ready for replanting. I'm excited to try this gardening gig again, even though I'm a bit anxious about the possible disappointment. But we keep moving forward with the hopes that we can trick a plant into growing and producing before we kill it off with our evil black thumbs.

Aidan was a GREAT helper pulling up all the plants from last season. I haven't seen this kid this happy helping out in a long time. This is a synopsis of our conversation.

You mean I can pull up the plants?

Yes

And throw them against the fence in an explosion of soil and leaves?

Yes







He felt great man-power from this and as Martha would say…it was a good thing.

Then my man-tool-operating Farmer B stepped up to the plate with the gas-powered tiller and went to town tilling the garden.



It looked almost back to something recognizable when he was done. That man of mine does work hard and I appreciate him for it.

Of course the magnificent ending involved Aidan and I poo-flinging with our newly-acquired trash can of horse manure. Funny how kids put things together in their heads.



Aidan and I are taking shovels of horse poo and spreading it around the garden when he looks at me pensively and says

"Mommy, are we going to grow horses?"

It was a valid question. Everything else we've spread on the garden was in an attempt to grow said item. So if you spread horse poo, logic could dictate that you're trying to grow horses. The rest of the day has involved questions about horse poo, gardens and just animal poo in general.

The dog quite enjoyed this Smörgåsbord of deliciousness. Please don't tell Farmer B. He just washed the dog and he doesn't smell like goat for once, so I don't want him knowing that he was frolicking in horse manure all day.



I got to work too and decided to take a photo of myself hard at work so you could see that I really am a shovel-carrying, horse-poo-flinging gardener.



Now we whip out the Florida Veggie Gardening book and see what we should plant...I have potatoes, sweet potatoes and lettuce on the list, but that's it. Actually I need a good how-to vegetable gardening book, you know the kind - how to thin, how deep to plant, when to transplant, etc. Since I did so much wrong last time, maybe I need more direction. Anyone got any book recommendations for me?