October 1, 2009

Tilling the Garden

I tilled the garden a few days ago, not the entire plot, only the areas in which the warm weather crops grew: corn and squash, tomatoes, eggplant, melons. The potato and pea ground also got a once-over with the tiller. When plant debris such as corn stalks are broken up and tilled under the soil, they'll add to its nutrients and its tilth as they rot. Years ago, I found that tilling in the fall works better for my soil than spring tilling; I have sandy loam which becomes too light and fluffy with spring tilling, not holding water well. As years of gardening pass, we learn more about the particular characteristics of the plots we are cultivating, and are able to husband them more effectively.


  1. Like your use of the word husband.
    As per wikipedia: "Animal husbandry, also called animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. It has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals" Does that make husbands the domestication of men?

  2. According to my 1924 Funk and Wagnall's "husband" means "to use or administer with prudence and economy".. Animal husbandry is likely a more contemporary definition.

    hmmm....husbands administer wives with prudence??

  3. enough with the husbands already, what exactly do you till with?

  4. I till with a Troybilt rototiller, yet another internal combustion machine used to keep the garden and yard in some semblance of order.