Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017 - 11

MILL CREEK STORIES
over." This year, I am really going to plant those seeds
I ordered. This year my garden will be spectacular. That
would be a huge surprise to my family since I still have
seed packets from 2008 that haven't seen dirt yet. I
haven't had a garden since well before my back operation in 2003. Haven't sunk a spade into the ground in
ages. Still somehow, I spend many a winter's night planning a gorgeous vegetable garden and ordering all the
latest seeds I think I need.
I buy packets of seeds for all kinds of exotic vegetables. Baby bok choy, green eggplant, purple carrots,
chilies from 20 different countries, melons with names I
can't even pronounce, all arrive from around the world
to languish in my inbox. I feel awful that these seeds
have not gotten the chance to live up to their potential. Obviously, not badly enough to toss some soil over
them but badly enough to experience a tinge of guilt.
My friend Amelia, who always has an amazing and
bountiful garden, shared the secret of her success with
me. It's so simple. She said that if you love gardening,
you must marry a person who loves to dig. Boy, does
her husband love to dig. Match made in heaven. He
is fit and full of vigor, a natural at moving sod and
rocks. Attempting to dig a couple of holes for tomato
plants sends me grimacing towards the ibuprofen for

days afterwards.
Amelia's husband took her love of gardening and
sprinted off with it. Now his love of garden machinery
and implements was justified. Tractors, three-pointhitch attachments, special spades and shovels, all the
oversized Tonka toys a man could want filled their garage until that other spring tradition kicked in. That
would be the big annual spring cleaning.
Spring cleaning at Amelia's house turned into pulling everything out of the garage into the yard. Seeing
all the tools spread out on the lawn turned into the
decision to build a garden shed-more small barn than
shed-for the gardening gear so their cars would fit
back into the garage.
Building a shed evolved into adding a small greenhouse for starting seeds to get a jump on the growing
season. I am watching all this happen with great interest, trying to figure out how I too can get a garden, a
garden shed, and all the cool toys to go along with it,
particularly since I married a man who has absolutely
no interest in digging even a spoon's worth of soil.
Can you see where this is going? It's just like that
children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." If
you give me a $1 packet of seeds, I'm going to want a
$12,000 tractor. 

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Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2017

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