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My Osage County, Kansas ground finally dried out enough last week to make it worthwhile to fire up the <a href=”http://www.drpower.com/TwoStepModelDetail.aspx?Name=ROTTiller&p1Name=RotoHogTiller2Step” target=”_blank”>DR Roto-Hog pull-type tiller</a> to work some straw and chicken manure into the vegetable garden. My Partner in Culinary Crime brought along a positively modern <a href=”http://www.husqvarna.com/us/landowner/products/garden-tractors/husqvarna-garden-tractors-for-landowners/” target=”_blank”>Husqvarna lawn tractor</a> when she moved to Kansas, so I left the vintage <a href=”http://www.cubcadet.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category2_10051_14101_16203_600000_600000_-1_image” target=”_blank”>Cub Cadet</a> 884 Diesel in the shed for this garden exercise. The Husqvarna had no trouble towing the DR Roto-Hog garden tiller – in fact I probably used the brakes to slow things down more than anything else. I have to admit, it was a little strange to operate a lawn tractor that pretty much lacks quirks. Sometimes I like working around the quirks of 30 year old machines – however it was cool to operate a machine that started up with no coaxing and didn’t require any tweaks or adjustments halfway through the operation.</p>
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<p>I managed to give the garden a second, deeper tilling on Sunday before the first spring thunderstorms hit. My Partner in Culinary Crime and I managed to seed all kinds of greens and some other things before the deluge commenced early this week. When a normally dry waterway is running like a white water creek after work, you know a lot of rain fell pretty quickly during the day. Now I know why ponds have carefully designed spillways.</p>
<p>We planted the potatoes a couple of weeks ago (before the soil was sufficiently fit for seeding) and have plenty of other crops to get in. The rhubarb is up but so far no asparagus. There’s spinach in the cold frame and lush basil in the house. I am supposed to build a garden fence to keep the dogs out during the growing season and a group of chickens in after harvest. I’ll try to keep you updated as the growing season progresses. </p>
<p>Photos courtesy Karen Keb.</p>
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<a href=”http://www.grit.com/biographies/oscar-h-will” target=_self>Hank Will</a>
<em> raises hair sheep, heritage cattle and many varieties of open-pollinated corn with his wife, Karen, on their rural Osage County, Kansas farm. His home life is a perfect complement to his professional life as editor in chief at GRIT and Capper’s Farmer magazines. Connect with him on </em>
<a title=Google+ href=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/117459637128204205101/posts” target=_blank rel=author>Google+</a>.</p>