It’s funny how the act of lawn mowing spreads through a neighborhood. Last weekend the Latinos and Garden Lady mowed, and Lin went out and mowed in Sunday too. Not because he really felt like mowing, but we didn’t want to be the last one on the street to mow.
See, none of us mowed all winter. There was never really a chance, because it rained and rained and rained and when it wasn’t actively raining, all our yards were soupy muddy places best left alone. There wasn’t much grass (or weed) growth all winter either, so it wasn’t too bad looking, until the temperatures warmed up, and then all of us had grand natural prairies with waving grass and weeds instead of lawns. Our street was getting so wild looking it was even beginning to bug me, and I have never been a person whose goal was to have a perfect lawn (I don’t even mind natural grasses and weeds, so long as they are pretty).
All week long the mowing has commenced down the street, because I am sure no one wants to be the last person left with an awful looking yard. Right now, I can hear at least three lawn mowers going. It’ll be interesting to see who is the last one left with a tall weedy lawn. Well, this time, it won’t be us for a change!
In other outdoor news, I am so well rested today I believe I will go putter in the garden for a while. I want to dump the dirt out of all my containers onto the large plastic tarp to a) let it dry out and b) mix it all together and add compost. I wasn’t sure what I was going to put in the containers, though I know I want to use them again this year to make the garden area a little larger without all that tilling. Since I totally forgot to plant squash (I don’t have any leftover seeds), I guess I’ll put a few squash plants in large pots. Then I can move them around and see where they like it best. They didn’t like where I planted them last year. While everyone else was swimming in squash, I was thankful for the few small pots we got to eat and always wishing for more. Maybe I’ll have better luck with them in containers.
Oh, and I needn’t have carefully planted any basil the other day. The newest weed in my garden area? Basil. Oh … my … god. It’s coming up everywhere! I saw all these tiny things sprouting and thought some new weed had invaded my growing space, but I also noticed it looked an awful lot like baby basil plants. So I pulled one up and sniffed it. Yup … basil. I’m going to leave as many of them as I can without it bothering the other plants, and I’ll probably be putting some in small pots for friends and family. Everyone will be enjoying some basil this year!
Also, my marigolds are blooming like crazy! I thought they would die off during the winter. In fact, I did nothing at all to protect them and fully intended to replant them this spring. But there are two of them out there looking healthy and awesome. They are way too large now for the space they are in, but I tried to dig one up to move it and it’s going to be impossible. I guess they like it where they are, and so they get to stay there. Whenever we get that awful front flowerbed cleared out, I am filling it with nothing but marigolds and irises. Apparently even I can’t kill these plants, and they are pretty.
The coffee is really kicking in now, so I’m going to go grub around in the dirt for a while and get a few more things done out there. It’s a little too muddy to deal with clearing out the mound area, but I can at least empty those containers and get the pole beans planted in the now ant-free potato bed. Yippee!
Must remember to get squash seeds. Can’t believe I forgot about squash!