I Seem To Have Lost My Hand Weeder Again

Bob Bauer

April 18, 2018 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

April 18, 2018

I seem to have lost my hand weeder again. It makes no never mind because most of the weeds are big enough to require my four pronged garden fork. I've been calling it a spade, but I was wrong. My son suggested using the weed eater to trim back the creeping jenny encroaching on my pathways and I realized there are lots of areas that could use it this year..

I keep shying away from using Round Up and the weeds are laughing at me. Every year I spend an inordinate amount of time weeding the pathways because Mother Nature doesn't like empty spaces. Maybe we could compromise and I'll just mow them..

April 19, 2018

The buck brush is blooming, the oak trees are leafing out, and I saw gosslings today. Surely there can't be more frosts in this spring. The gosslings were floating between two adults that had their heads down, and with my diminishing eyesight, and the distance away they were, the flotilla looked like an alligator. The buck brush is alive with pollinators, not many of which are honeybees..

I think the flowers are too small for them. The kale in my garden is in full flower now and one bush had as many honeybees on it as the entire patch of buck brush. I think honeybees are an indication that temps are on the rise, they seem to disappear on cold windy days..

April 20, 2018

I held off as long as I could, but I planted corn today. Working in the garden in a t shirt means it's warm enough for corn. The forecast shows 68ÃÂ° days and 38ÃÂ° nights for the next five days so I'm in the summer garden mood. The clear plastic had germinated lots of weed seeds under it which is another benefit to using it. The patch is now weed free. My weed windrows are turning into weed burms..

I don't have time so shake all the dirt off the roots so the piles are getting higher. I call it the red line beyond which I'll let no weeds grow. I'm thinking of covering them with black plastic like they do silage. The whole burm could decompose throughout the summer. I'm definitely growing my own mulch this year, right next to where it's needed..

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