And so it begins...

I started my garden!  So far, I've planted lettuce and peas, but this is only the beginning.  They should germinate in the next week or so, and I can plant everything else in another month.  The transformation in my garden since last June has been unreal.  Here is what it looked like when we bought the house:

Just sorta mangy.  A teeny tiny bit weedy.  It was more than a few years overgrown.  BUT, here is what it looks like now:

Ahhh!  Look at that beautifully soft, fluffy, golden glowing soil!  It is like butter.  I love it.  This is (part of) my 2000 square foot garden just after I tilled it up with my new best friend:

The "Husqvarna DRT900H"

My new rear tine tiller turned this soil over in no time!

This garden was used my Mr. Orman, the previous owner, for years and years and years.  And years.  He passed on a few years ago and his children rented the home to a dear family.  They were here for 3 years when Mr. Orman's children decided to sell.  We were lucky enough to be blessed with this home in an amazing neighborhood with incredible people surrounding us.  The open house was crawling with potential buyers, and we somehow sealed the deal.  It was meant for us, I know we are supposed to be here.

So this garden has a lot of history.  I have been told by numerous neighbors about how Orman took care of it, how he invited all the neighbors to bring their leaves in the fall so he could till them into the soil.  How he was working outside every day he could, even when he could hardly see.  My sister had stories about him for me before I knew anything about this home.  She lived in this neighborhood years ago.  Mr. Orman used to dry the grapes on his roof to make raisins that he shared with my sister.  He left bags of apples on his porch for her and her husband to take.  Now those grapes, those apples, along with cherries, raspberries and pears, (and random garlic growing throughout the yard) belong to me and my family!  I am so excited to carry on Orman's legacy and share them with my loved ones.

I keep getting asked if I will be using ALL of my garden this year.  I plan to.  I will try to keep it up.  I have maybe unrealistic dreams of harvesting many different vegetables all summer long from every square inch of my garden.  I am, however, concerned with how I will water it...there is currently not a drip system in place.  I am trying my hand at irrigation ditches this week as an experiment.  We shall see how that goes.

Wish me luck as I take on this huge task.  I may need help eating all of the vegetables I hope will grow here over the next 5 months.  Just saying.