Ten-Finger Exercises

Invaders

It was pleasantly cooler today, so we worked outside some. We have a Ponderosa pine there that we think is the largest tree in town. The trunk is about eleven feet across. There are bird houses nailed thirty feet off the ground. Beneath it are a lot of little clumps of plants about 1 cu ft each with somewhat fern-like foliage and tiny yellow flowers. There are also many bleeding hearts and a whole lot of ivy. I have to thin out some areas of ivy to make room for hostas that will be coming up. But the hard part is trying to get out the blackberry vines that have popped up all over.

I'm not sure they're blackberry, but they are very thorny. The leaves are palmate, unlike the leaves I usually think of with blackberries, but I have seen them on blackberry vines before. They have a nasty characteristic that wherever a tip touches down, it takes root and makes a new plant. I dug 5 or 6 of out, which was extra hard because there's such a thick layer of ivy all over. Went back for thicker gloves and Bill wanted my help with something else, so I bagged those vines and left the rest of them for another day. My arms look like I've been in a cat fight.

I hope it will be cool again tomorrow. We have a raised garden plot of about 20x30 that's been tilled and ready to go for two weeks. It's full of sprouts of zuccini from last years plants; we had a very prolific zuccini year. I hadn't intended to plant any of that same kind this year. I want some variety that will stay pan-size for longer than a day!