I'm a gardener, so I've always enjoyed this song. My tomatoes are getting big, and we've had three harvestings of beans. How about you?

Copyright 1983 by Dillon Bustin, Moonglow Music

GARDENING
(Dillon Bustin)

Oh, my friends, it's springtime again.
Buds are swelling on every limb
Peepers do call. Small birds do sing.
My thoughts return to gardening.

Gardening is a very fine art.
Bear well in mind before you start.
Lay up your ax, your saw blade also,
And take down your spade, your rake, and your hoe.

Polish your hoe till the blade does shine.
Likewise your rake as you sharpen each tine.
Dress up your spade with a light coat of oil.
Then you are ready to prepare your soil.

Prepare your soil with a good free will.
Bear well in mind what you may till.
Some compost and lime are all that you need.
Then you are ready to plant your seed.

Plant your seed but none too soon.
Bear well in mind the phase of the moon.
Set out the fruits, the roots, and the grain,
And hope it all sprouts in the cool early rain.

If the cool early rain don't drown you out,
The first hot spell will bring on a drought.
The midsummer sun is hotter than hell,
So mulch down your rows and water them well.

Water them well and thin them also.
Beware of weeds and beetles and crows.
If you work every day and little is lost,
Just hope it all ripens before the first frost.

Frost will come, as sure as sin.
Then you must hasten to gather it in,
By cartloads and bushels, by pecks and by quarts,
Your harvest of fruits and grains of all sorts.

All sorts of peaches and apples and wheat,
Oats and rye and strawberries sweet,
Squashes and melons with colorful rinds,
Your harvest of vegetable roots of all kinds.

All kinds of turnips and carrots and beets,
Potatoes, tomatoes, and strong-smelling leeks,
Cabbage and corn, the beans, and the hay.
Then you must carefully store it away.

Away in the cellars and lofts and bins,
Make cider and kraut, pickles and gin.
If you do it all well, then you'll not go wrong.
You will have plenty all winter long.

All winter long while the cold winds blow,
Take down your saw and a-woodcutting go.
If you're well fed and warm, be well content then,
Till warm weather comes and you say to your friends,

"Oh, my friends, it's springtime again.
Buds are swelling on every limb.
Peepers do call. Small birds do sing.
My thoughts return to gardening."
Gardening!