Well, after shopping at a new local nursery, buying plants and planting them (3 little Mums, 3 Texas Betony, 3 Mexican Oregano, and 1 Zexmenia), I finally gave in and started weeding.
It is such a chore in most of the beds, but the rock and crushed granite path is just the worst. (Did that sound like whining?!) I wet it down and settled in on my little plastic stool (see left) and filled an entire plastic tub (my favorite gardening item) of weeds and grass that have invaded my pathway.
It was a nice day, maybe 90, but overcast for part of the afternoon and a little breezy, so it was most pleasant to be out there.
My back was talking to me this morning, but I ventured back out there for 2 more hours until the heat and hunger got to me. One or two more sessions and I should make it to the end. (Then I can start all over again, right?!!)
My DH washed the dogs and they enjoyed drying off in the sunshine. Dakota dried quickly, but Tanner takes a while and kind of looks like Cujo when he’s wet!
My DH washed the dogs and they enjoyed drying off in the sunshine. Dakota dried quickly, but Tanner takes a while and kind of looks like Cujo when he’s wet!
And then just an hour later, I discovered that Tanner had ditched his collar somewhere in the yard. And I learned a very valuable lesson after searching twice through the whole yard — peering in the bushes and all: Don’t buy a GREEN dog collar!
Hey, I have that same stool in beige! I keep it in my garden cart and use if for everything.
Love the dogs!
Robin Wedewer
National Gardening Examiner
(and chicken lover)
It’s a great stool – lightweight and easy to hose off! They’re great dogs, but you do know about Dakota’s dubious reputation, don’t you? There was only one thing they could tell me when I adopted her from the no-kill shelter who took her from a county shelter. (She kills ….sshhhhh…poultry…. I know, I know. So, we absolutely can’t have any here.) But I love reading about yours. They are so cute ~~ for chickens, that is!
I love the garden tubs…they are very handy. Weeding not my favorite job at all! I think folks who take home rescue dogs and cats are saints!
gail
Diana, I’m glad you rewarded yourself with a nursery trip. Sounds like some wonderful new plants. Did you go to the new place on S. 1st – Plantscapes I believe it is?
I’ve been using boiling water on the weeds in my sidewalk cracks, and it kills most of them, but you wouldn’t want to use it too close to the plantings at the edges of your path.
Gail – I have a small green tub and a large purple one and have given them to parents/in laws as gifts. They’re great – so easy to handle. We only adopt shelter dogs, I think they’re great — I used to volunteer at our city shelter, too.
Robin at Get Grounded — I didn’t go there – didn’t know about it – I’ll have to check it out! I went to It’s About Thyme. Now I have another place to go.
Northern Shade — That’s a good idea, but you’re right – these weeds are so intertwined that I’d kill the plants. Guess it’s just a labor of love – ugh!
diana, good for you … getting out there and tackling those menacing weeds! Weeding is a constant thing… I try to get them when I see them but don't always have time. Sounds like they might be harder to dig out of clay than my humus soil???
The dogs look happy to be bathed and laying in the sun.
Meems @Hoe&Shovel
I have a lot of gravel and granite and I agree with you the weeding is endless. Sometimes I think it is therapeutic especially when you look back and see a job well done. I love the mix of surfaces in your path. It is a favorite thing in English gardens and the English, as you may know, like to use up things-trifle and bread and butter pudding!
Diana all of your work is just wearing me out and it is making me feel guilty because I need to get out in my garden and do the same chore. Is Weeding ever done? I don’t think so. Just think we can never feel like we aren’t needed. ha…
Meems – You’re so right – I kept up with them earlier in the summer, but vacations allowed them to catch up and I’ve been behind ever since! Those dogs don’t much like getting the bath, but they do like all the petting and attention we shower on them when they are nice and silky clean!
Lancashire rose – maybe I like my rock path so much because it reminds me of English gardens. I do like that cottage look, though I don’t have much of it.
Lisa – Yes – weeding is an endless, thankless job. And a headache today is keeping me far away from the sun, so I may not get it done before some garden blogging friends come over on Thursday. Oh well. And I’ve been watching the elm tree drop a gazillion tiny seeds and all I can think about is whether I could vacuum those up so I don’t have to pull thousands of seedlings next February! Too, too type A, huh?
I’m sorry for your deer problems having had my own this week. Maybe it is just the nursery taste but I have to say they are getting pretty desperate this year with so little native stuff to eat. I have never seen so many ribs. I caught mine eating Confederate jasmine clippings. Surely that white stuff can’t be good for them. I wonder if you have ever seen the list of companion plants which can be planted to protect ones they will nibble. Don’t leave the crepe myrtle pots out there or that will be the next to go.
Lancashire rose – you’re right – I need to get those pots in!!! That’s my problem – I leave things uncovered for just one night and BOOM! But I give her water every day and she eats the grass on our septic field and our birdseeds.