I thought I had problems with the rock-infested dirt of the Hill Country until I saw what Ronny plants in. This is scary.

Don’t bother looking at the potato plants – look at the dirt

Excuse me, sand. There’s nothing dirt colored about it. It’s sand colored. It’s been improved with bull manure (a story for another day), leaves and fertilizer. Still looks like sand to me.

Now Ronny comes from a family of vegetable gardeners and he’s grown vegetables his whole life. I guess that’s why he can garden in dirt, excuse me, sand like this.

No raised beds here – don’t think they’d hold in sand

Ronny’s what I’d consider a real gardener because he plants a whole field of things. I plant 4 X 8 foot beds, which limit production. He grows fantastic radishes, squash, potatoes, onions and tomatoes every year. He says all he uses for fertilizer is 13-13-13. It’s not organic, but neither is sand. My vegetables are much more spoiled and tended to than his, but his always turn out better.

Something new to me

These are Ronny’s tomatoes. He plants them and then puts a 5 gallon bucket over each one. What you see next to the buckets are pieces of wood that he uses if it gets close to freezing to protect the small plants. I would think being in hot black plastic would fry the tomato plants, but it doesn’t. It also protects them from wind and probably cut worms.

Did you know if you put a 4 inch galvanized nail in the ground next to your tomato plant it will keep the cut worms away? One of my gardening tips.

North Texas Tomato Protector

Tomato plants look good and he just leaves the buckets in place. Did I mention the sand he’s dealing with? Wow…

No, Ronny doesn’t grow apples.
These are lovely floating candles given to Juice.

Now I know all I’ve talked about is Ronny and his garden, but this year Juice has been helping, too. She raked lots of leaves that got tilled into that sand, helped plant and does a fair share of hoeing weeds. And, actually, when it comes to their garden, Juice is this luckiest one of all because she has her own official sitting spot.

The Secret Sitting Spot

Notice there’s only one chair. When Juice has had it up to “here” with the two men she takes care of, she disappears, pops a cold one and sits here. She’s got a perfect view of the garden and the field beyond.

Looks calm and peaceful to me

Well that about raps it up for more than you ever wanted to know about one of the Spadettes. It’s my goal for you to meet them all one day, even if it is through the Internet. I’d like to personally thank Ronny and Juice for letting me wander around their grounds unattended with my camera. I’m sure they had no idea how many pictures I was taking or they probably would have kept a better eye on me.

Have a lovely and (hopefully) rain-filled weekend. Next week we’ll either go down a path of random thoughts from this crazy brain or I’ll be begging relentlessly for you to buy some fabulous Gone Country Merchandise. Check in on Monday and find out which way I go.

Spreading laughter throughout the world…one chuckle at a time.

Mikie Baker
www.mikiebaker.com