So much for having a "real" garden this year. The extensive rains we had in early June turned our nice brown square of ground into a grassy mess. Dan dug trenches around the garden to keep it from flooding, but after the rain stopped, those trenches managed to grow foot-tall grass! We missed the best opportunity to get it weeded a couple of weeks ago when mom and dad were here; I had kind of forgotten about it since it wasn't really my project. But when I went out to look at it early last week, I decided we just couldn't just let the grass win, so I attacked.
Step One - Weed whacking the foot tall grass around the perimeter of the garden.
Step Two -- Removing the plastic fence we had surrounded the garden area with -- not much to be eaten by wildlife anyway!
Step Three -- Removing the pieces of sod that had been dug out of ditches, since they were growing grass like crazy. These worked well to fill in holes all over the yard made by moles/dogs digging. I had fun driving the mower, pulling the wagon. Breaking up the clods to fill holes was not as fun, and very hot work. I actually am praying for a hard rain to help finish the job.
Step Four -- Watering overnight to soften the soil so that it would be workable.
Step Five -- Hoeing, hoeing, and more hoeing.
Step six-- On hands and knees, pulling out the weeds/grass growing right around the plants I did find -- lots of carrots and vining plants -- not sure what kind.
Step Seven-- Removing clumps of grass and weeds that hoeing dug up.
Repeat Steps 5, 6 and 7
Repeat
Repeat
I'm still far from done...
Why I decided to tackle this project this week, I'm not sure. It has been HOT! But tackle it I did. I didn't take a before picture, but in this first picture, you can get an idea of what the garden looked like -- notice the lone corn plant in the background. The next two pictures show the areas I've hoed and somewhat cleared of grass... there is still a lot of work to do!
Step Two -- Removing the plastic fence we had surrounded the garden area with -- not much to be eaten by wildlife anyway!
Step Three -- Removing the pieces of sod that had been dug out of ditches, since they were growing grass like crazy. These worked well to fill in holes all over the yard made by moles/dogs digging. I had fun driving the mower, pulling the wagon. Breaking up the clods to fill holes was not as fun, and very hot work. I actually am praying for a hard rain to help finish the job.
Step Four -- Watering overnight to soften the soil so that it would be workable.
Step Five -- Hoeing, hoeing, and more hoeing.
Step six-- On hands and knees, pulling out the weeds/grass growing right around the plants I did find -- lots of carrots and vining plants -- not sure what kind.
Step Seven-- Removing clumps of grass and weeds that hoeing dug up.
Repeat Steps 5, 6 and 7
Repeat
Repeat
I'm still far from done...
Why I decided to tackle this project this week, I'm not sure. It has been HOT! But tackle it I did. I didn't take a before picture, but in this first picture, you can get an idea of what the garden looked like -- notice the lone corn plant in the background. The next two pictures show the areas I've hoed and somewhat cleared of grass... there is still a lot of work to do!
Among the projects we worked on while my parents were here was starting the transformation of an empty rock beds into a kitchen garden. I decided to buy already started tomato plants, cilantro, and yellow peppers. So far so good!
The annuals I planted a few weeks ago are surviving the heat, though I've put them in the middle of the deck to save them from too much direct sunlight. The heat has been wonderful for sun tea, and we've been brewing some every day, and drinking it up!
The annuals I planted a few weeks ago are surviving the heat, though I've put them in the middle of the deck to save them from too much direct sunlight. The heat has been wonderful for sun tea, and we've been brewing some every day, and drinking it up!
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