The Garden Has Been Taken Over by....Grass!

Well, not really.

My ever-helpful Dad called me to task over the state of our garden.  It started with him rubbing his bald head, which he does when something's bothering him.  "What's up?" I asked.

"Well," he said, "I really don't know how to put this..."  I said, "Whatever it is, spit it out.  It's OK."

Then he burst out with "It's your garden.  It's in terrible shape!  You need to do something about it or you're going to lose everything!".

Huh?, I thought.  Other than one clump of "bunch grass" at the end of the row of peas, the garden is weed-free.  Again, huh?

Then it dawned on me.  The oats we've planted for green manure are doing quite well between the rows of plantings.

I said, "Oh, you're talking about the oats, right?  Looks like grass?"

"Oats?" he said, bewildered.  "Can't be.  The stuff's about this tall!" and he held his hands about 10" apart.

"Yep," I said, "Those are the organic oats we're planting between all the rows this year.  To till under for green manure.  Remember?"

"Huh."  Pause.  "Well, the peas need the ground broken up around them.  That hard-packed crust is bad for them."  Notice the absence of response to the oats revelation.

"Yeah, you're right.  That hard crust isn't good for any of the plants."  Notice the lack of commitment to do something about the crust.

"I've got a [widget] you can use to break that up, you know." he offered, helpfully.  I can't remember what he called it. "It's got a wheel thing with teeth on it and you just push it along the row and it breaks up the earth so water can get to the plants.  It's in the barn, where I park the mower, look down the right side.  You'll see the handle, it's right there."

Hmmm.  Our clay soil holds so much water that I'm not sure I want even more getting down to the roots. But hey, he wants to help.

"Great!" I said.  "I'll do that."  Me, lying like a dog.

My Dad is not and never has been a vegetable farmer.  Plus, a lot of the info he has is way out of date.  I'm going to research the break-up-the-crust-around-the-plants issue, but I'm pretty sure I don't need to do that.

Of course, I could be wrong.  I frequently am - just ask my husband.