Mom, Dad, Nan and Lisa for July Fourth. Lisa drove back to work on Friday. Nan, Mom and Dad spent the night . We swam both days and ate lots of food!
- Wednesday morning before everyone arrived I weeded. With the rain and Molly's birth (my inability to get to Burton and weed), there has been an explosion of weeds. It is a pretty daunting task. And we leave for Alaska in a less than two weeks. I filled a wheelbarrow with a huge pile of weeds from the Star Garden.
- I weeded in the Vegetable Garden. The sunflower, amaranth and okra seeds that I sowed are about a foot tall now. I pulled up all the larkspur that had gone to seed. And I pulled up all the Mexican Torch sunflower that I saw growing. I am done with those monsters. They are wonderful for the butterflies, but too difficult to keep upright.
- Nancy spent about 30 minutes helping me pull up the tall weed in the Meadow. It was great to have help!
- I spent an hour or a bit more weeding in the Star Garden after everyone left on Friday. I filled up two heaping wheelbarrows full of weeds and spent vegetation.
- Saturday morning. Couldn't sleep. Finally got out of bed at 5:00 and drank coffee. Out the door and weeding by 6:30.
- I spent most of the day in the Star Garden weeding and tying back plants. I filled up the wheelbarrow many times as well as well as the cadet with weeds. By this time in the year I'm not really pulling up spent wildflowers anymore, just weeds. But I am still culling ageratum, so there was a lot of that in the wheelbarrows too. I cut away plants leaning into the paths and generally cleared away those areas.
- Next, I went to the Medicine Garden. I used the hedge trimmers to cut back my St. Johns Wort. I cut back many stalks of Hojo Santo. I used the large leaves as "mulch" around some of my freshly weeded areas. I did some raking and spraying herbicide. I ran into a copperhead in the ginger bed in there. I called to Bert to come and kill it, but I mistakenly called it a coral snake. He won't kill one of those pretty little things. He didn't hear me correct myself and call it a copperhead, so he never came to my rescue. It remains alive to scare me another day.
- I sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden.
- I spent 20 minutes in the Meadow pulling up the tall weed that is so unattractive.
- The last thing I did was to cut back my Black and Blue Sage in the Bedroom Bed. It is a large area, and it took a while to do. There were still some brown eyed Susans in there, so I yanked them out. Also pulled up any Four O'Clocks I saw in there. I have them mostly eradicated in that area. Hot work at 2:00 in the afternoon.
- Showered and napped for about an hour.
- I tried to do a bit more, but threw in the towel pretty quickly.
- Sunday. Up early again. Ray brought their new dog, Josie, over to meet us. We all chatted for about an hour.
- I started working in the Rose Garden. I worked in there most of the day. I cleared out 6 or so beds thoroughly, and some beds I only got out the big crabgrass that spreads out and crowds out. By 2:00 I was pretty whipped, so I cleared out the weeds around my young roses so they wouldn't choke. To be continued next weekend.
- I cleared out the paths in the Rose Garden so that nothing brushes against you when you pass through. I staked a few clumps of Standing Cypress. I sprayed herbicide. Bert mowed the Daffodil Bed for me. I sowed zinnia seeds in areas that I cleared out. We will have lots of pretty blooms in early August. I watered here and there, and I moved the sprinklers.
- I sprayed herbicide in the Orchard and the Star Garden and around the pool.
- Lastly, I sowed Aurelia's Verde Amaranth, sunflower seeds, Nema-gone Marigolds and zinnias in the Vegetable Garden. Pulled a few weeds too. I like having things growing in the Vegetable Garden even when it is August, and all those things like the heat.
- I continued watering in the Rose Garden until dark.
- Drove in to work on Monday morning.
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