Well, I have been away for a few weeks and have missed writing this article.  Thank you for the compliments I have received during the past year of writing.  

Today when I left the house it was only 18 degrees.  My backyard pond was frozen on the edges and I saw a little snow on the ground.  If you planted your potatoes on Valentines Day, I would think that they would have frozen this week. 

I am getting some above ground beds for a garden this year and I can’t wait to fill and plant them.  I think that the planning is a lot of fun, of course not as much as the harvest.  You can really grow a lot in these beds. I’m planning on tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and onions.  Of course, later on I will plant some okra and corn. 

A sweet lady that I have worked with a long time, Mrs. Kay, I think was the inventor of the above ground beds.  She plants just about anything and everything.  She harvested some cabbage just this week.  If you come by our store, you can see videos of her garden.  Mrs. Kay really works hard in her garden and loves every minute of it.  She always has control of the weeds and the irrigation. Some of her containers include feed and water troughs, Feed tub buckets, and her soil is to be envied. Every year she refreshes the soil by adding more and dividing some of it.  This lady knows her stuff.

A good garden is a year round job if you do it right.  We have a lot of customers that plant spring and fall.  I hope that mine turns out half as good as Mrs. Kay’s garden. Of course, I will have a good teacher.

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)