On a little spot of fertile land in Somewhere, Tennessee, where the ground is nothing but fair, I learned to dig my family as they were. And what they were is large, very large.

Back in the day, every large family had a garden, out back. And my family was only different in that, both sides of our family lived on the same street. We called this double garden duty, because we had to pull weeds or pick greens, not once but twice. Depending on traveling ways, my Dad's folks lived on the right side and my Mother's folks lived on the left side of the ground, that ain't nothing but fair.

After harvesting all that we could from the family garden spot, Granddaddy would till and turn the soil one more time, for a bed of winter greens, he would plant the greens in the heat of September, while the soil is still, warm as snuff.

My Granddaddy was Pops to thirteen children and his grandchildren numbered, thirty or more. The question that remains is; How does one man, find that one special something in each grandchild with so many, under foot? I don't know, but he did! And what he saw, you saw, and what he saw in me was my love of plain old dirt. So out in the garden, we would be, just him and me.

"Pop's Garden Rules" began with being extremely aware of your environment and his most prized garden advice: plant in any month, that has the letter (R) within its name. This is standard Old Man Dee, Garden Theory 101. But exercise some caution here, and pay close attention to some natural clues. Practice Becoming more like a seed pod and plant more than one seed. Plant many seeds and then and only then; expect rain, cause if you just planted one seed, the rain is sure to wash it away.

If you want pretty green grass in the spring, plant it now. If you want a pretty flower garden next year, plant it now. If you want a thriving business next year, plant the seeds now for a spring harvest, and then be patient, because the bloom always comes before the green.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Genesis 1:11 KJV

The key word seed can be found in the Holy Word of God more than two hundred and fifty  times. The Book of Genesis is the leader of the pack, when it comes to the key word seed, with more than forty entries! But please also note and notice the key word seed has several other alternative meanings, both in the Hebrew and the Greek and the Aramaic.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22 KJV

We won't get into all of that, Holy Business, right now, because, you already know, the foundation of good garden design is some fair fertile ground plus more than one seed gently and meekly planted.

And, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; Genesis 9:9 KJV