The Secret to Success in One Word (Sometimes Written as Two)

I have discovered the secret to success (at least in double-digging a Plant a Row) and it is one word.  Pickaxe.  If you have not swung a pickaxe before (or lately), let me tell you, it is a remarkable tool that blasts through the hardest red clay with ease (the pitch fork wouldn't even puncture the rock-solid clay when we tried that first).  My friend, David (pictured here, sort of), and I each swung one and knocked off our 25-foot Plant a Row at the food pantry garden in maybe an hour tops (with lots of talking breaks).  Now, there is about 8 inches of fluffy soil there, ready for cover crop seeds next week.  And then that will be it.  We'll water it and watch it grow, while building organic matter and adding nitrogen over time.

I ran the numbers with David as we were working, before we met in the middle and our pickaxes clanked against each other.  "So, what did this take us?  An hour last week, with some help from the food pantry clients, to scrape off the grass and move the frame?  An hour for Van to till, an hour for James to mulch, and now this hour?" I pondered. Not such a big time commitment to create something out of nothing, for zero cost.

What's more, this was not only not that hard, but fun. And, of course, the question that comes to my mind, the question that always comes to my mind, the question I then said to David out loud,  and that I now ask you, is this--what else is possible? After ten years (since the towers fell) of digging in and trying to make a difference, I still keep going back to that question and finding there's always more I don't yet know is possible.

As we were swinging the axes, I also said to David, "What part of our bodies do you think will hurt the most tomorrow?" Well, it's two days later and I do know the answer to that question.  It's not the arms.  It's not the shoulders.  It's the back.  But you know what?  I'd be back to do it again.

If you're still on the sidelines on Plant a Row 2012, here is the introduction to this fun, you-can-do-it-at-home, project, and here are the two action recommendation posts so far in this six-week series:

Operation Plant a Row: Choose a Method and Get Going (Growing)
Operation Plant a Row: "I Smell the Time" and It Is Now

Speaking of pickaxes, I had used one several times before, to plant my fig tree, two pomegranate trees, and a small berry orchard at my home garden, and some blueberry bushes at the community garden.  To plant a tree takes about ten minutes of digging with a pickaxe.  If you are thinking of adding some permaculture edible landscaping features such as fruit trees or bushes to your home garden, you are only ten minutes away from having the hard part done.

See the first time I swung a pickaxe--Previously Bound and Trapped--when yes, the famous Richard of the Worms introduced me to it.

The Secret to Success in One Word (Sometimes Written as Two)