Fruits Of My Labor

 

My strawberry plants are blooming. They hovered between dying and surviving since I put them in the ground. I decided to move them to a sunnier location since the carport cast a shadow over them and now they are blooming. Only 4 plants survived, so if I get any berries, it will be just a handful.

A baby gourd!!! Two years in a row I planted gourds and they produced a crazy amount of gourds. Since then, no matter where or how I planted them, they just withered and the vines turned brown. I planted these without any expectation next to the lattice. The soil there is silty with clay and I didn't really expect then to even come up. The vines are covering the lattice and there were 3 tiny gourds this morning.

After I said hello to the baby gourds, I went behind the house to pull some weeds creeping into my mulched in flower bed that faces the ravine. Nobody sees it but me, but I am important! I was trying to stay close to the house while HeWho was still sleeping. 65 degrees had me outside and I knew I could find something to entertain myslef with. So, there I was happily yanking weeds and grass when a fat little moccasin darted out of the grass and scurried down the ravine. I would have chopped it in half had I had any tools at my disposal other than my hands.

So, I changed my location and decided to dig up some hedges that were trying to grow back. They were huge along the side of the dogs' yard. Taller than me and very woody. They had been let go far too long, and tall weeds shot up the middle of them. The thorny variety that will cut into your skin if you even walk by, so we cut them down to the ground. They are coming back, as I knew they would and I will be keeping them clipped and under control. The root system had spread far and wide and had shoots coming up in the oddest places. I dug up chunks of the root system and plan to use them on the side of the embankment to prevent erosion. The roots were and inch and half in diameter. I got three good chunks to use. HeWho had been weed whacking them down, but he can't do that again for at least a week. He can't lift anything over 10 lbs. for at least a week. I took adavantage of his hiatus!

When we moved here there were some low scraggly looking bushes in various places in the yard. They are low to the ground and the branches and shoots they send out will root if they lay on the ground. Whoever put them in the ground did not remove the weeds and grass or lay down anything to keep them from growing up and into the bushy stuff. In order to properly get the weeds out of them you can either stick your hand in blindly or do what I did and take some twine and pull it around the base and then up and tie it. They always look unkempt and it was next to one of them that the snake appeared.

I don't care for them and have been digging them up. I thought about using them next to the woods, but the snake issue has me hesitant. I had tossed them on the ground about a month ago behind the She Shed. These things just refuse to die! So, I decided to use them on the clay embankment to discourage erosion. Nothing else even trying to grow there, but these scraggly things will take hold and spread. I planted five today as I balanced precariously on the slope of slippery clay. I put some rocks atop the roots to hold them in place. Good thing, because a storm popped up shortly afterwards. I couldn't bring myself to throw them away. I hate to waste anything, even ugly bushes!

Go ahead, make fun of the old lady and her pile of sticks she wont let her husband burn, or throw away pieces of soaker hose her husband hit with the week whacker! Look at her like she has lost her mind when she proclaims the value of these items and proceeds to make a trellis for her garden.

And another one! Using her drill and a few screws. I can just see cucumbers vining along the hose and climbing up this trellis. Can you? The hose will lend itself a good texture to grab with the tiny, tentative tendrils as they search for a hold. Also be strong enough to hold the cucumbers off the ground.

And when you run out of hose to use, no worries! The old lady has plenty of smaller sticks and some twine. Maybe not as strong as the hose, but strong enough for flowers.

See my grass? Not all the grass seed washed down the ravine! Next Spring everything will look different. I can hardly wait to see the fruits of my labor.