Let the Weeding Commence

Every gardener will tell you the one thing that truly sucks is weeding.  For me, it's not the boxes so much (although there's some of that from the breakthrough, persistent ghosts) it is the spots between the beds.  This year, as an attempt to cut down on that, I am slowly but surely getting kids to help by laying down cardboard and then spreading an alternative to saltwater marsh hay.  between my beds is looking sharp and it really is cutting down on a lot of the weeds.  

Yesterday, my youngest took a turn and spent a couple of hours going after some particularly nasty mint and mugwort and got the areas that border the plots next to mine under control.  Funny thing, this morning a Facebook memory popped up of him going after the weeks along the retaining wall at our old house from 11 years when he was a freshman in high school.  

He did a good job, not the job I'd do, but he did a good job and I'm glad I don't have to worry about it as much now.  This weekend, I'll get one of my helpers to go after the ones along the fence, get the cardboard down, and some more mulch.  I'll get my tomatoes in now that my box is refilled and refreshed.  The next big job is the 10x10 box in the middle of the upper part of the plot.  Now that Rascal and company have moved on, it's time to get that area prepped and ready so I can start my squash and get my indeterminates into the ground.

My peppers are ready to go in the ground soon along with my eggplant.  Then it's time to get some tomatoes off to a few other folks out there and it's all good.  My lilacs are thriving and put out some little purple flowers to make me smile.  The deck is starting to look good with the lettuce all popping up and the herb garden starting to delight in being outside.  For now, it's all good.