Death to the Weeds! #36

The weed killer suited for battle

Between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, our family has experienced nearly all of the major life milestones. We've had a wedding, a funeral, two births-to-come announcements and a wedding announcement not to mention someone turned the big 6-0. One weekend we had a wedding one day and a funeral the next. That was an emotional roller coaster of a weekend.

Squash

Our garden is a microcosm of life in the same time period. We've had births, deaths and yesterday I got to experience what I would call a wedding. Or maybe the wedding night. A bee dipped into one flower and dispersed his bounty in another. The pollen is the wedding ring? At any rate, in the end we'll have butternut squash to show for the ceremony.

I've been the messenger of death lately - or actually the hand of death. Waging war against weeds is an endless effort, and today I got serious. I took the weed eater to the garden. The heck with hand-pulling in this heat. The weeds are taking over, and I couldn't let that happen. I sliced them off at the ankle. And if they reappear, I can now deal with them a few at a time.

Rusty enjoys a roll in the grass

Next year, we have a better plan that should eliminate a good part of our weed problem. All those lovely rows make for a beautiful home for weeds down in the troughs where we flood. A few vegetables, like potatoes and onions, may still need mounds but the rest can grow on flat ground. Then we buy these flat hose things with little holes that lie on each side of the plants and water the plants directly. They aren't very expensive but we'll  have to wait until next planting season for that investment. Quite frankly, I can't do another year of this kind of weeding.