Weeds

Where do they come from?  We spent this summer going around in circles, trying to keep each section of the garden as we believe it should be.  We trimmed back the plants that get too tall to support themselves.  We pulled and dug out (by the roots) superfluous seedlings of desirable plants as well as known and expected weeds.  We thinned out the plants that spread too far too quickly. As each part of the garden was thoroughly weeded, we put down a mulch of leaves we gathered and mulched last fall.  This is by far the best mulch we have ever had.  We ground the leaves before we picked them up, and drove to the end of the field where we dumped them.  The rains of last fall, winter, and spring, kept them moist and they were in perfect condition.  As we completed each section we looked back at our previous border and discovered the weeds were back plus new ones that appeared after we mulched.  Around and around we have gone from bed after bed.  Fortunately, the soil has been moist enough to make much of this just an exercise in futility; however, there is no question that we were having fun.  Weeding is a necessary part of the joy of gardening.  No one should garden unless he or she enjoys pulling undesirable plants out of the soil, and loves the sounds of the soil releasing their roots.  I will admit that I hope for at least one week by the end of summer, the entire sunny garden will be weed free.  Until then, we will continue weeding through the garden bed by bed and day after day.

We have reluctantly agreed that because of COVID19 we will not be able to have a garden open day this fall; however, we plan to have sales of plants in our nursery by appointment with limited numbers of people here at the same time.  We will send notices to those on our mailing list and hope to see you, a few at a time, this fall.