Garden Photo Journal:My All-Weather Gardening Companion

Sylvester the Superfluff

Happy New Year! Between the bitter cold (it was minus six without the windchill yesterday morning) and this month-long flu I'm finally getting over, it's been a slow start to the new year, both in and out of the garden. But despite the snow, Sylvester, who spends much of his time in the garden and greenhouse, is ready and willing to get in the way lend a paw whenever I step outside.

I did make a New Year's Day list of hopes and resolutions for my 2010 garden, which I'll be sharing in my next post (and asking about yours!). In the meantime, are there any four-footers who keep you company in the garden? If you've shared photos of them on your own blog, you're welcome to include a link in your comment.

Want to see more of Sylvester?
1/8/09: Meet the Newest Member of Our Feline Family, Sylvester the Cat
8/5/09: The Pollinator and the Pussycat
9/4/09: Sacked out Sylvester on the Potting Bench
1/5/10: Cold Lover

Of course Sylvester isn't my only companion in the garden. Some days I'll have three or four supervisors out there with me, though of course supervisors never do any actual work. It's been a while since I've foolishly allowed any sheep in the garden, but there are days when I do miss having my sweet little Cary in there with me. It was almost as fun as letting a lamb in the living room! (Don't know who Cary is? Meet her in A Tiny Tail for Mother's Day.)

5/23/06: Cary on the Cucumbers
5/27/06: Turtles Attack!
5/28/06: Thinning Beets with Cary for Company
6/19/06: Lunching in the Greenhouse
6/28/06: Eating Weeds and Inhaling Asparagus Ferns
6/30/06: My Scuffle Hoe and a Weed Eater
7/12/06: The Weed Eater Was Working Perfectly
7/27/06: Falsely Accused (and Let Back in the Garden)
7/31/06: Sucking Down Surprise Lilies
8/17/06: The Destructive Duo Has Been Kicked out of the Kitchen Garden
1/7/07: What I Learned from Cary Last Year
4/18/08: A Little Look Back at Cary and the Nanny Bear in the Greenhouse

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the never alone foodie farm blog where I may rant and rave about the destruction caused by various critters in the garden, but I really wouldn't trade their companionship for anything—well, except a beautiful 8-foot high stone wall around the entire garden, which would also keep me from having to deal with the dreaded deer.

How To Use a Scuffle Hoe to Weed the Vegetable Garden - and Why I Love Mine So Much

My Thai pink egg tomato patch before. . .

And about 3 minutes after.

Years ago, I read a magazine article in which several well known gardeners named their favorite gardening tool. Someone, I forget who it was, said theirs was the scuffle hoe, which is sometimes called a stirrup hoe.

They went on to describe how it did a superb job of weeding with hardly any effort; you simply pushed and pulled the hoe just under the soil surface and voila! all your pesky weeds were severed at the base, while your surrounding plants and their roots went undisturbed.

I immediately longed for one. The ones I found for sale were pricey. I smacked the longing into submission and convinced myself that my life was totally complete despite its lack of a scuffle hoe.

Fast forward a few years to my first spring, complete with giant garden, in Missouri. I'm wandering around a small hardware store that's having a going out of business sale, and I spy a couple of scuffle hoes. They're simply made, don't even have a brand name, but are under five dollars each. Sold!

I take one home, attack a small patch of weeds with the oh-so-easy, push-pull motion, and watch in disbelief as my new wonder tool fails to do absolutely anything. I can practically hear the weeds and the salesperson laughing at me.

Fast forward several more years. For some reason I can no longer recall, I decide to dust off my scuffle hoe and give it another chance. That famous gardener had raved about it. If he was stranded on a desert island, all he wanted was that stupid, useless hoe.

And then I figured out why.

More below. . .

What's Growin' On: 6/28/06

Munch.




Munch Munch.




Munch Munch Munch.

Realization Of The Day:
I don't think Cary is going to starve anytime soon.

Yes, these photos were taken in my garden. Yes, I grew all of those gorgeous weeds in that raised bed she is standing in (that you can barely see for the weeds) myself. Yes, this is one of those times I desperately try to adopt the attitude of that famous gardener who grows gourmet produce for Chez Panisse (and whose name I still cannot recall—anyone?) which is to just let nature take over your garden, even if that means you can barely see the food when you stroll through it.

From Garden To Table:
Yellow, red, and white onions diced, sliced, and chopped into everything.

From Garden To Mouth:
The first few ripe raspberries!



Busted Bunny Trying To Blend

From Garden To Voracious Trespassers:
Too much of my bounty! Why won't they eat the weeds?




From Garden To Cary:
Whatever she wants.