I managed to sneak a little gardening in this past weekend.  My two rows of garlic are coming up strong, the rhubarb looks good, and there are at least 6 rows of dirt between them that needed to be refreshed.

The soil in my home garden is much different from the soil in the Hampton Victory Garden.  It’s a little on the sandy side as opposed to clay.  The soil breaks up easily and I can turn my section of the garden over without a combustion engine.  Each year, I add more organic matter to the soil to build it up.

This tool has been in the barn for a while and novice gardener that I am, I thought it might work to prepare my soil.

I turned the dirt and worked in 3 bags of compost.  When I was done, Uncle Bob came out to inspect my efforts and quizzed me about my plans.  I quickly turned the quizzing around by asking a little sheepishly, “Hey, what is the name of this tool, anyway?”

Uncle Bob kills me.  The look of disbelief and disgust on his face was priceless.

“JOO-LIE…it’s a rototiller.  It belonged to Dave’s grandfather.”

Duh.

I was glad to know it was a rototiller and not some other exotic gardening device.  I was also glad to know it belonged to Dave’s grandfather.  Dave is one of Uncle Bob’s good friends; I think they were in the same class in high school.  They both played baseball together and then they both worked for the same local oil company.  Dave and his wife, “Honey,” always have an outstanding garden at their house.  In the cool of summer Sunday evenings, Dave sometimes stops by and sits on the porch with Uncle Bob.  Dave is “family” to me.

I’m glad Dave’s grandfather bought this rototiller.  It’s getting a little tired and it’s missing half of its tines, but it still does the job and it gives a great “Farm Arm” workout.  The best part about this little green machine is that it doesn’t burn any gas.

What type of tools do you use in your garden?