Ten-Finger Exercises

Garden me this, garden me that

This is the time of the year when I: a,) regret having not been more diligent about weeding; b.) wish I'd planted such-and-such closer together, or, alternately, farther apart ; c.) wishing I'd planted something else in addition to or besides what I planted; d.) having better plans for next year.

The spring was cold, the garden was slow. I manicured every weed and grass blade faithfully. However, I used grass clippings for mulch last year, and this year, well, you can guess. Now that it's hot, the grass has overtaken my efforts. I was just out there, and I'm dripping with sweat and have only a small area free from the unwanted stalks. It's the front, of course, the part you see easiest.

I used a great garden web site that allowed me to design my garden, put the plants in at the right spacing, etc. Fun to do but easier on the screen than on my knees out there in the dirt. I had many yards of surplus tarp we'd cut from the edge of the winter pool cover, and it made great walking paths. I do need to go punch holes in them tomorrow, to keep the sprinkler water from making puddles and to let the rain through, if we ever get any more this summer. We may have had our share, albeit all at once it felt like.

So, next year my beans will be planted farther apart, regardless of what the seed package and web site suggested. I can't see into them to know if there are any beans yet, but there are lots of blossoms, some white, some pink. That's odd, isn't it? And I absolutely WILL stake my tomato plants when I plant them. It's terrible trying to get their long arms up into their cages while not knocking off any blossoms. And maybe I'll even be better about pulling up the volunteer tomatoes. I have far too many this year, in addition to the six plants I bought. I suspect all the upstarts are sweet 100's, and my friends will all be happy to have them grow.

This is the first year I've been ruthless with sunflowers, not letting them just come up wherever they please. Hmmm. At least I intended to be, but, in truth, I don't think I saw any this year at all. I did plant a row across the back of the garden though, and they're looking proud.

I saw some mulch advertised but too expensive, made of rubber tire chips. I bet that would work to keep the weeds down. I have three other free solutions though that are working in micro areas. Maybe I can expand. One is the husks off sunflower seeds that the birds leave. Did you ever notice that the weeds don't grow there? Another is newspaper. I never knew how to keep it from blowing away before, but this year have folded sections into thirds, making long strips that are thick enough to stay in place once they get wet. And the third one is those box bottoms that the store gives you to put your plants in. I've turned them upside down in bare spaces, and if they don't discourage/kill the weeds, at least they hide them.

Darn. There's a big windstorm. I've heard the thunder for awhile but now the wind. The pool cover is off because the water is so hot already, but the linden trees are putting out bushels and bushels of spent blossoms/seeds/chaff. Guess it's too late to change my mind now and cover it back up since I'm by myself. I could do it if the wind wasn't blowing, but maybe being out there in the lightening isn't so good either. It will tick Bill off to have to clean that up tomorrow before we can leave for Spokane, but he'll probably insist on it. We'll see. Maybe I'll call up there now and see if we can move our reservation back a day.