Getting Whacked

Now that summer is kicking into gear, everything is growing at a rapid clip (no pun intended), and I'm having to step up the yard maintenance. Actually, everything is growing fast except for our tomatoes, but at least they're not dying, sort of. There are several areas that are in need of maintenance, but nowhere is this more evident than our garden. Yes, despite our scorn for tending our garden in years past, this season we have decided to once again plant some stuff, albeit in a smaller area. It's much more manageable, but the rest of the space is growing wild, and I'm talking out-of-control wild. At some point you have to do something.

R has patiently stood by and voiced her concern, and I finally broke out the weed whacker and decided to take action. The idea of getting rid of all the weeds is the stuff of fantasies and completely out of line with reality. You just can't get rid of weeds without nasty chemicals. You pull out a bunch, and there are hundreds more waiting to take their place. The only thing you can do is consistent maintenance, which for the record is beautiful in theory but much harder in practice. Once the weeds become established, they are a friend for life.

In order to keep them at bay, I fired up the weed whacker and took care of business. That machine never ceases to amaze me, and it's a lower end model, which you knew I would go for in order to save money. Truth be told, it works beautifully and has never let me down. I took care of the garden (for now) and then went to work on other sections of the yard, taking out sumac saplings and assorted ferns. Of course, it works well for sections that the lawn mower can't reach.

Now the yard looks somewhat civilized, at least for this week. We'll see how things look when the weather starts cooking.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Mike Sheehan for the pic.