working in the garden

      I try to keep ahead of the weeds by working in the yard and garden everyday.  I'm seldom without my two-prong hoe in search of a new weed to dig up but it seemed like a lost cause after a couple days of wet weather and then a return to normal and warm temperatures.  It seems my big patch of dirt turned green almost overnight and not with vegetables.  So today out comes the cultivator. 
    Garden tillers made quick work of breaking up the soil at the beginning of the growing season but it has always seemed that no matter how deep I dug up the dirt weeds started popping out before I could even get the tiller put away.  This year I purchased a cultivator and an electric one at that.  Yea, it does take longer to get the soil ready for planting as it just scratches the surface.  There are some areas of the hard red clay the cultivator can really dig down into but the cultivator is made for weed control and keeping the soil loose around plants so the ground is aerated,  Actually, the weeds seemed to take much longer to reappear using the cultivator. 
    One great thing about the cultivator is one can get right up next to a tender seedling without touching the desirable plant and eliminate the weeds.  The cultivator doesn't dig as far down and stir up weed seeds like a tiller does.  I think i made a wise decision in getting my cultivator. 
  As far as the garden,  it is looking good.  I've got watermelons, 4 varieties, two varieties of cantaloupe, straight neck, crook neck and zucchini squash, green beans (3 kinds) onions, beets, carrots, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers,  and pumpkins.      It's not a big variety but melons and pumpkins take a lot of room to grow. 
   I believe I'm going to have a good peach crop this year and next year I will have apples and cherries.  Hopefully my blackberries will continue to expand and both blueberry bushes will produce next year.  And as always my grape vines are heavy with clusters and my newer vines are growing quickly.  Soon my property will be able to support me and be a source of beauty as well as good for wildlife. 
   I've definitely done my part for the toads and frogs.  On a night like tonight it can be deafening out by the pond.  Oh but it is so pretty.