When it comes summertime, my mind overflows with memories of the gardens we had when I was a child.

 

The first garden I remember was a rather small garden in comparison to many of those that came later.  It was on a small plot of ground on a vacant lot in a residential neighborhood that Daddy rented, I imagine, for the purpose of having a garden that would produce enough fresh vegatables to feed the six of us who were in the home at that time.  The reason I especially remember this garden is because after church on Sunday morning, we'd go by the garden and Daddy would take me to the short row of corn he had planted just for me.  I have no memory of harvesting any good "roastin' ears" off my little parcel of the larger corn rows, but I'm sure I did get the benefit of the harvest - corn on the cob is probably my most favorite fresh vegetable and that early designated stand of corn probably helped set my preference.

 

Gardens in later years were much larger.  I can remember one that was almost a half of a city block!  That's the garden I especially remember for the Saturday morning task of picking off the potato bugs and dropping them into pails of kerosene that I had to lug up and down the rows in the blazing Kansas sun.  My older sister and I had this memorable job only one summer that I remember but the potato patch seemed like it went on forever.  I don't know that Daddy ever planted that many potatoes again.

 

Another rather large garden was probably one of the best garden spots Daddy ever had.  Again, it was in a residential area and consisted of a couple of vacant lots that Daddy worked out an arrangement to rent for the garden.  He had that garden spot for several years.  What made it such a great place to garden was that Daddy didn't have to haul 55 gallon drums of water in a trailer pulled behind the family car to the garden.  This garden had a well on it which provided all the water he needed.  I remember that garden yielding a lot of tomatoes that I had to help prepare for canning.

 

My cousin, Evelyn, often came to help mother can.  Four women working in our hot, tiny kitchen was certainly a challenge.  The years I remember helping with the tomatoes, my job was always to slip the skins off each hot orb after it came out of the scalding water.  So much tomato juice dripped down my arms that I had to tie tea towels around by arms and tie tea-towel just below my elbows and place bath towels on the floor to catch the sticky liquid.  Those towels would become quickly soaked and have to be changed.

 

Another canning chore I "got" to help with was done outside at the edge of the concrete stoop at the back door.  Daddy had drilled some holes along one edge of the concrete, inserted some big bolts through holes in a wide board and fastended the whole thing securely to the stoop.  This was then used as the extension to which the big hand grinder could be attached.  I spent what seemed like hours feeding onions, peppers, green tomatoes, and cucumbers into the hopper and turning the handle first with one hand until it grew tired and then the other until it grew tired and then I'd switch hands and keep grinding.  This process always seemed to go on endlessly, but the end product of those ground up vegatables was always the best chow-chow, relish and picallily I've ever had.

 

I try to garden a little bit myself now, always with dreams of having the time to do it on a larger scale.  I also can some, although I haven't in recent years because I now have a 9-5 job and can't take off like I used to to spend a week or two "putting up" things.  But I still like to can tomatoes, freeze corn on and off the cob, and make pickles.  I have a friend who helps me and we share the products of our labors.

 

Tonight I'm going to have a fresh batch of summer squash for supper, shared with me by my daughter from her small garden.  I still have some delicious green beans in the freezer she gave me last year, and a couple of weeks ago she put a half bushel of roastin' ears in my freezer for me.  My friend's tub-raised tomatoes aren't doing very well - we've had too much rain this summer and they've been drowned out repeatedly - and the volunteers that came up in my kitchen garden got a late start, so I'm having to buy tomatoes for my tomato and peanut butter sandwiches (a family favorite) for another month or so at least.

 

Does anyone want to help me finish off last year's corn on the cob?