My Garden Bucket

My dear MIL bought my dh a tool bucket one or two years ago for his birthday or Christmas. Unforunately, it wasn't a practical item for a guy with a bunch of tools. He's got a LOT of tools, and tool boxes work better for him. Equally unfortunate, the gifted tool bucket sat out in the sun and weather unused for a very long time. I must digress to visit Memory Lane for just a few moments, and share my sun damage phobia.

Whenever I see something that is sun damaged, I get a sick feeling inside. I know exactly from where it stems. My grandparents had a cement slab on the back of their property where my mother stored some of our possessions for a while while she was getting back on her feet after my father left. One of those things was her beloved dining room table. Unfortunately it wasn't covered properly and ended up with serious damage. I don't remember my mom when she discovered it, but the sick feeling I get I know is directly related to her reaction, which the sick feeling indicates was pretty bad, and I probably blocked it. I remember that she refinished her table and it took a long time. My sisters both feel the same horror at sun damaged items. I appreciate having siblings to which I can go and ask if they experience the same feelings, and sometimes they know why, when I don't. Sun damage happens a lot out here and often there is nothing I can do about it, so I just try to overlook it. It is tragic the damage one summer can do to wood. I have a chair in my bathroom, and another of similar style that I brought home at the same time had no place to call its own inside, so it lived outdoors. Over a few summers, the varnish stripped, the wood greyed and it broke to pieces. Sad.

The tool bucket lived outdoors long enough that the cloth pockets ended up with sun rot. But a couple of weeks ago, I got the idea to rescue the tool bucket to use for gardening. I examined it and found that it seemed to be intact. I am a little dismayed at the sun-rotted condition of the pockets, but honestly it will work just fine. I sprayed it out with the hose for it was covered with the fine dust we live with out here in the desert, not to mention spider webs and other debris. I continued to lug my little cardboard box with me to the garden every weekend, and continued to set my gardening "tools" here and there since the cardboard box wasn't really big enough. And then last Sunday I realized with a sense of accomplishment that my work to get my garden back under control was pretty much complete. I decided then it was time to put my garden bucket to use as well. I had the tool bucket with me out in the garden, and I began to load the pockets with the items I like to have with me when I garden.

From left to right: pruners (this pair had a first life as goat hoof trimmers), box cutter (pink and yellow), dirt poker (for poking holes symmetrically for seeds), red handled tin snips (for cutting chicken wire, Juice Fruit gum for the gopher. He took it, he ate it. He continues to ravage any of the garden which is not fortified beneath with chicken wire.

Wire cutters, flat head screwdriver, box cutter, thermometer, and the seeds I'm planting for the day in the big pocket.



My garden gloves, poked into one of the pockets.

My Gardener's Journal. I think I got it at a thrift store for a couple bucks, and started using it in 2003. My entries are sporadic in the first few years, but I am trying to remember to make notes in it this year. It was fun to read through my previous entries, seeing what kinds of seeds I'd planted. I'm trying to not only list my seeds, but how well they do, etc.

I keep my Gardener's Journal within a gallon freezer ziploc bag, along with a few other things. A couple of pens and a pencil, a small notebook and the folded white paper is my list of "When to Plant What".

Finally, one of my Duane Newcomb books. He packs a lot of information into the book, including when to plant, how many seeds/plants needed per person, time of year to plant, some companion planting and other good information that I like to have with me while I'm in the garden.


One of my recent harvests: Purple Radishes, Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Egyptian Beets, Chioggia Beets, and Broccoli.

I diced the purple radishes and broccoli, along with one avocado, one clove of crushed garlic, 2 tablespoons of homemade goat milk yogurt, onion powder, pepper and salt. It was pretty good, considering I was just throwing things together to see how they would taste.

Until next time.