In Search of a Weedless Garden

The husband and I went out to the garden right after breakfast so we could stay ahead of the rain that was coming in. We took the two smaller billboard tarps off the strawberry bed and moved them over to where the beans had been, then spread the larger billboard tarp out over the strawberry bed:

This bed is at the very back of the garden. It was added on specifically for the strawberries, but I should have done a better job of staying on top of the weeds. The whole bed got overgrown with wood sorrel. To the left is our neighbor’s property. To the right is the pig pasture. Directly at the back of this bed—where the pigs are standing—is a small section of the pig pasture, and beyond that is another neighbor’s property.

At 20’ x 60’, this tarp fits almost perfectly in this space. I may have to leave it on through next summer, too, in order to kill the weeds underneath completely, but we’ll see how this area looks next spring. In addition to strawberries, I’d like to put an herb garden in this section.

Not tilling the soil has made a huge difference in the number and kind of weeds in other parts of the garden. The “weeds” I did have this year were chamomile, lamb’s quarters, dill, and cilantro, none of which I find terribly annoying. (And my friend, Anna, who owns the catering business, was more than happy to take the excess cilantro off my hands.) If I can get the wood sorrel out of this section, I’ll be happy. It has tenacious roots. Tilling seems to spread it around even more. I hate it almost more than quackgrass and that’s saying something.

I picked another five-gallon bucket of ripening tomatoes and then the rain started. It was beautiful. Friends down in the valley are telling me they didn’t get much, but it rained off and on here for most of the day.

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My storage container—I have one and the husband has one—is now rearranged and organized. Mine is filled with canning supplies, a few sewing machines, and a bunch of stuff belonging to the girls. I moved all of their stuff to the front of the container so they can go through it next month and decide what they want to take with them.

I ordered heavy-duty shelving. The husband was going to get me shelving from one of his clients, but that fell through. When I checked the other day, none of the stores in town had shelving in stock. I need shelving strong enough to hold sewing machines. The shelving I ordered is supposed to arrive by next Friday. We’ll put some of it in the garage and at least one unit in the storage container.

I also took advantage of the 60% off Joanns coupon that showed up in my e-mail and ordered the Warm Window insulation for the shades for the living room. At $36.99 a yard, it’s not inexpensive, and I needed six yards. The husband says he doesn’t know how Joanns makes any money off people like me. I don’t either, but maybe they make it up in volume. When that gets here, I’ll have everything I need to make the four shades for the living room and a small shade for the door in the laundry room.

We finally have reservations for the rehearsal dinner—finding a place that could accommodate 13-14 people on a Wednesday night was no easy feat. This is a restaurant my kids loved when they were little. It’s under new management, with a new menu, but DD#1 was happy to see that they still have the girls’ favorite appetizer of fried wonton wraps filled with cream cheese.

Looking at the forecast, I see that we have about one more week of nice weather before we get another frost. I’ll bring in what tomatoes I can until that happens—even if I have to set up another table for them to ripen on—and call it good. I should have plenty for sauce. All that’s left after that is grapes and potatoes.

This afternoon, if it’s not raining, I plan to scrub down the ice cream parlor chairs in preparation for giving them a coat of touch-up paint tomorrow. I’ll also cut out the new covers for the chair seats.