Let The Tilling Begin

Well, the carrots came out of the ground late Friday afternoon. The sun was setting and the weather was getting brisk as I pulled out the final purple hazes. I got them in the bucket and put them in the basement. I like to hose them off beforehand but I didn't have time. The next day's weather forecast predicted a terrible rain and they were correct so Saturday was spent cleaning the house and watching the tube.

Sunday however was beautiful and sunny but brisk, an average of 52 F all day. I had stuff I had to do but at 4:30 realizing I would lose sun soon I knew I had to go out to the upper garden and roto till. First I had to clean the dirt off the carrots, I connected the hose and got to spraying. Four kinds to clean, Red Dragon, Flyaway, Bolero and Healthmaster. It wasn't a huge crop but still very beautiful.

Carrots cleaned I attempted to awaken the tiller from it's fall slumber. This is always a tense moment as I never trust things to cooperate, especially mechanical things over which I have minimal supremacy. I pulled and pulled the starter cord to no avail and I thought, damn, it's dead, I'm screwed. What am I going to do?

I checked the gas and there was some but what the hell, I gave it some more, several more tugs and yes, it purred to life. Oh my tiller, giver of pleasure and pain. So I navigated it up the hill and tilled the upper garden as the sun set and the air got even more brisk causing my breath to be visible. So I just have two more gardens to go.

Winter in on the way, this week's weather is predicted to be blustery rainy and slushy. Time to check out Spring in the southern hemisphere. They're just starting up. We'll see if last winter's garden's are now being tilled.

All that remains in the ground are the parsnips and the scorzenara. They'll be the last to go.