Laying Out the Garden

I'm a little sore but feeling good. Cold weather kept me out of the garden for the first part of the week. Then a wave of Spring like conditions moved in as if to say "get out of that recliner and go play"! And that is exactly what I did.

My garden area needed some overhaul. Winter weeds had decided to homestead. Their roots had penetrated deep into the soil to resist any challenge to their removal. They weren't prepared for Poppy's determination to reclaim his territory however. One by one the weeds surrendered after being attacked with Poppy's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction- hoe, rake, and shovel (I wanted to use some explosives but that would have alarmed the neighbors- they know I'm a Vietnam vet).

With the weeds gone and able to see the layout of the plot, it was quite obvious that the whole parcel was "out of wack". It looked as if a drunken ------ had laid it out with one side going one way and the other side going in the opposite direction. Much like the outline of a box that had been stepped on with bulges along the way.

So, with stakes, tape measure, and good nylon string in hand, I set out to straighten it out. Of course it had to be "squared" to my warped sense of perfection. That required making sure that opposite sides matched the other in length and the diagonal measurements matched (whew).

But wait, that is not all! Who would go through the trouble of making sure that the plot was "squared" only to install rows at odd angles or crooked. Here we go again! Stakes, string, and tape measure in hand to lay out the rows. The rows were laid out to allow for a two foot walkway between each row and a row width of 30 inches. Each side was measured at these intervals to match the other side. Stakes and string were then used to lay out each row to be tilled. Results-perfectly straight rows!

Let me hear about some of your lay out tactics.