Preparing the Garden

February 22, 1935  The boys hoed tumbleweeds.  Corney and John also plowed the garden.  Mama and Mary cleaned dust out of the house.  Mama and I went to Mother to get some plants from their garden.

It must have been a nice day in late winter because the Siemens were working in the garden.  They had a large garden because it had to feed six adults, including two teenage boys, and three children for an entire year.  The Siemens bought very few if any vegetables, so they were very dependent on what the garden produced. 

Once all the old plants and mulch and tumbleweeds were burned, they worked the garden with a horse and walking plow to break up the soil for the coming season.  The tractor was too big to use in the garden.  Then Cornelius and Margaret went to her mother’s house to get some plants.  She had probably started lots of plants indoors in containers and was sharing them with the Siemens.  It would have been a lot of fun to get the tiny new plants started and to watch them grow day by day in preparation for setting out in the garden after the danger of frost had passed. 

And the unending battle against the dust continued as Margaret and Mary wiped every surface in the house with wet rags, swept all the floors, and maybe even scooped out dust where it had blown in badly.