August 25, 2014

Finally we have (supposedly) about 4 or 5 days without rain, so I should have been at the painting job that the masking has, by now, turned into paper mache. But a migraine kept waking me up last night and I just felt too much like I was going to throw up, so I stayed home. Around the middle of the afternoon I felt good enough to go out and continue the great weeding project.

About 80% of the weeds are various types of clover. I’d been in the habit of allowing clover to stay put, since it provides nitrogen to the soil and keeps a lot of other, worse, weeds from coming in. I only took it out when it was interfering with the garden plants. Last year I never got any of it taken out, and this year it reached critical mass and exploded all over the garden, covering every inch of soil and most of the garden plants. This, and quack grass, are the main things I’m dealing with. Both of these things (and the sorrels and wild raspberry plants) have roots from hell. My back is starting to tell me that round up might not be such a bad idea after all, although so far my brain is still winning that argument.

I think the hummingbirds are gone for the year. The last two days I haven’t seen or heard one, even when I was working by the Scarlet Runner beans. I think a lot of other birds have left, too- it’s eerily silent out there. There are still finches beeping, but there aren’t even as many of them as there were. I hope this doesn’t presage an early, horrible winter for us.