Okay, let’s be honest and admit that moms don’t get summer vacation in the traditional sense. I always loved the lack of school hours and homework to deal with. The best part of this summer? No school in the fall!
My oldest graduated from college. My middle is taking a break from college as distance learning was too much for her and she can’t tolerate a mask for in-person classes. My youngest just graduated from high school and is taking a gap year to bank some money for school. We’re hoping to talk him into taking his first two years locally to save even more cash. Our local community college is quite good and has a program which partners with the school where he plans to get his bachelor’s degree. It would be a quarter of the price.
Back to the title topic. I spent four months (yes, that includes spring) working on a very large garden plot. It’s needed attention for years, but arthritis poked it’s head up a few years ago and made gardening very painful. (I keep my physical therapist in business!) Since then, I invested in a 16 inch tall folding stool and take a hiking stick with me for when I need a boost to stand up. I bit the bullet and started removing the weeds from this garden one spade full at a time. First, I’d take a regular shovel and loosen the soil. There were tons of weeds matted in there. Second, I went through with my hand trowel and pulled out every weed I could put my fingers on. Third, I’d run my fingers through the dirt looking for large roots to pull out. Fourth, when I had a big enough area cleared, I spread a bag of mulch.
Mulch would have been cheaper to purchase by getting a truck load, but this process was slow enough that it was far better to cover the dirt as I went to discourage new weeds. I’ll need to continue to check back through now and then, but it looks so pretty now.
Currently, I’m going around the house to remove weeds, fill in mulch where it’s getting thin, etc. This morning I transplanted some butterfly plant which had spread itself to another area of the garden. The plants are mature and beautiful, but looked messy. I don’t know if they’ll survive the transplant, but it’s worth a shot rather than just pitching them.
If I ever finish eradicating the violets from my garden spaces, I’ll be turning my eye to edging the sidewalk and driveway. I bought a hand tool for this last spring. DH has a gas powered edger, but has an awful time getting it to start.
I almost titled this post “The War of the Violets”. I’m finding huge clusters of root crowns (rhizomes?) with thick pieces four or five inches long. It’s rather satisfying evicting them. They’ve been winning up to this point, but the tide is turning. Next year I’ll work to get them out of the lawn to help slow their return to my domain. (Cue evil laughter)
Also on my to-do list is planting mint around the storage shed to discourage mice and spiders. My kids might ride their bikes more if Shelob has to look for a new home. Mint will spread and be invasive too, but better mint than violets.
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