This damn…

…blog-making machine of mine called “Word Press” has a nasty way of putting  everything I write atop everything else I’ve posted, so if I publish something new it goes on top, not the bottom — the way newspapers, books, and everything else works in this whole, damned, friggin’ world.  Accchhhh!!!!

So okay, we’ll deal with that.

HEREIN, and, ahem, below, everything I write will be new; all designed to walk you gently into the world of gardening — where peace, beauty, solitude, silence, and healing and more may all be found. This saved my life once after my tour as a decorated Marine Corps combat veteran in Vietnam almost killed me. Here — via PTSD — not over there. I’d been growing stuff since I was 9, so I took it up again in a battle against powerful demons  who ended up no match for the soil and the magic of plants.

Once this post ends, we’ll end up back somewhere else, in an old post, with new stuff on top again. Forgive me, but there it is.

So let’s go. This blog has a history of years, mostly on gardening, but also on life. I’m bringing it back to life now on the chance that it might help even one should struggling to survive this Covid-19 ugliness. That means a little garden. Flowers or veggies, it doesn’t matter. Plant what you like. You’ll need a yard, or access to soil, which gets at least six hours of sun a day.  Don’t scrimp on that. Rich soil is also nice, but you can improve that with nothing more than leaves, cut grass, kitchen scraps, and other stuff I’ll get to.

(Meantime, if you have questions, try looking up what you need in the archives. They might be organized alphabetically. Might, I say. I have faults.)

Okay, so you have a garden site. Keep it small.  Getting from there to a garden isn’t hard. One option is to hire Igor the Tiller-man to turn it all over and till it up. Then you go in, toss the grass clumps into a pile (soon known as a worm-and-compost pile), rake things smooth and plant. Easy peasy. You’ll figure out the tools you need. Whatever you do, buy the best; nothing cheap. Gardening is an addiction, and you’ll be at it a long time.

Another option is to dig up a square foot of soil, turn it over, shake out the sod. and buy a book called “Square-foot gardening.” They’ll take care of you after that. It’s a good book.

Okay, Jan’s making spaghetti for dinner, so we’ll get back together tomorrow (I hope) up on top. Give yourself a hug, and be careful of this friggin’ virus. If you play life right, it won’t get you.

Peter.

Oops, forgot. This last will be up top somewhere, but I can’t move it, so look for it later (or earlier, or something like that.)

Some things you’ll want to plant from seed, and I suggest getting these from mail-order sources. Seeds in the hardware store and elsewhere tend to be older and of lower quality.