I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!...is weeds, weeds, weeds, everywhere. But that's okay because when I open them they are gone. Well, mostly. I spent 4 hours yesterday and 6 hours today weeding and weeding and weeding some more. It reminds me of when I was a kid and picked berries in the summer, 8 to 10 hours a day, six days a week. At night when I'd close my eyes that's all I would see.
My garden looks like a garden again. I probably should have taken a before photo, its hard to believe it is the same place. I let most of my garden lay fallow last year. Pretty much everything but the permanent crops of berries, asparagus and herbs. Oh, I had a pot of peas and one of beans and one of tomatoes, but the raised beds didn't get used. So they went to the weeds and the pathways after summer ended went to the weeds.
Now I've pretty much got it all reclaimed and partially planted. I thought I'd list what I have so far.
6 broccoli plants
6 cauliflower plants
6 red cabbage plants
24 kohlrabi plants
10 potato volunteers
7 cucumber plants (one didn't make it before planting
1 large zucchini plant
5 green leaf lettuces (one got eaten up by slugs)
8 yellow crookneck squash
1 hanging basket full of peas
1 Tigerella Heirloom tomato plant in blossom
10 garlic bulbs
permanent plants
asparagus
strawberries
blackberries
blueberries
raspberries
bush cherries
Saskatoons (berries)
apple tree
3 pear trees (one immature)
1 dwarf cherry tree
various herbs
What I still need to plant from seed:
green beans
radishes
Once I get those in I'll look around for space to see if I want to plant anymore.
I also planted wave petunias in alternating red and white down the driveway flowerbed and some bright yellow (not orangey) marigolds in a mass planting with red salvias on other side. The lilies there are getting ready to bloom and they will be deep orange and then towards the end of summer the bright orange Japanese lanterns will bloom. There is some red dianthus that is blooming right now, and the roses have tons of tight flower heads on them. There's also some hot pink something or other I did not plant there, but they migrated from across the yard.
Then I put some hot pink and some magenta wave petunias in the front whiskey barrel that has daffodils in the early spring, pulled the daffs frist and stuck the bulbs in some good compost in a different pot. The front whiskey barrel goes with the roadside flowerbed which is predominately pinks, whites, purples and blues. That bed is starting to bloom. Well the bachelor buttons have been out for a bit and the blue geranium has as well. The hot pink roses are blooming and the white goosenecks, daisies, and something else blue is blooming. Tons more to come in a couple weeks though. That flowerbed is 32 feet long and 4 feet wide.
I need to do the shade bed still. It is still weedy and the ornamental grass is doing a runner and needs to be set back. The hostas all came up beautifully this year but something ate the cyclamen. I have another hosta to plant there and I think that will make five varieties now. It also has some creeping red sedum and some violets. And lots of dandelions, unfortunately. Well, that bed is only eight feet long and one foot wide so it shouldn't take more than an hour to do, if that.
The peonies that belonged to DH's G'Ma are opening. My G'Ma's should open in another week or so. I still have to weed the horseshoe flowerbed, which is 16 feet on one side, 32 feet on one side and 16 feet on the other side. Only one foot wide though, so I might get through that with about four hours of work. Then the caladiums and coleus will need to go in the one stretch of 16 feet of bed. Everything else there is perrenial.
It's a lot of work and I hope the weather holds. I should think of mowing the lawn at some point but since it is already six to twelve inches shorter than anyone else in the neighborhood's at the moment I can let it go a bit longer. It's only been a week.
I got a lot accomplished and a lot of my stress dissolved. It's like I can stick my hands in the dirt and feel the stress just flowing out of me. It is very peaceful.
I did spend some money today. I got a garden hose and two new sprinklers and I got lunch from the Polynesian takeout place, Black Pepper Chicken (has celery and bokchoy in it). It came to less than $4 for the lunch. I can't remember on the hose and sprinklers, $25 or thereabouts.
I Close My Eyes and All I See...
June 14th, 2007 at 04:40 am
June 14th, 2007 at 06:17 am 1181801869
June 14th, 2007 at 06:39 am 1181803174
June 14th, 2007 at 12:45 pm 1181825144
Geez, some people.
June 14th, 2007 at 02:43 pm 1181832197
Years ago i tried weed fabric but the weeds eventually grew thru it, and youd really have to be good about throwing lots of mulch on top or it looked bad to have the fabric peeking through.
I hesitate to bring this up, cus i really try to garden as organically as possible, but last year i tried using Preen a little bit and had decent results. It's granules that you shake onto the ground after you have COMPLETELY weeded it. Then to activate the granules you water it (or let it rain). The granules keep weeds from germinating, and it lasts for a good 4 to 6 weeks, then you need to reapply.
June 14th, 2007 at 02:53 pm 1181832810
Have you ever thought about getting one of those weed-burning tools? I've seen some people using them lately, and they look pretty nifty.
June 14th, 2007 at 05:57 pm 1181843837
Something of a Zen quality there. Bet everything looks really good.
June 15th, 2007 at 01:35 am 1181871359
So if your ex-wife was 39 when you got divorced, does that mean you are in your early 40's? Because for some reason I always thought of you as late 20's to early 30's. Of course, that may have been due more to your vulnerability when you joined SA than anything else. Gosh, online stuff makes it hard to know, sometimes, doesn't it?
June 15th, 2007 at 01:38 am 1181871498
Weed fabric is fine for about 3 years but yeah, it does go right through it eventually. And stuff will grow on mulch on top of it, too. Trust me.
Suz--
Yes, dirt therapy is my release! I think that's why my garden is so big. Of course, DH says my garden eyes were bigger than my stomach or something like that! But I'm finally catching up to the size of it.
June 15th, 2007 at 01:40 am 1181871654
Maybe so, but the best advice I can give is to start small. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Which is so easy to do.
I've been aware of the weed burners but I don't want to put out for the expense. I can stay on top of my weeds if I don't get lazy.
June 15th, 2007 at 01:45 pm 1181915123