This is the work of spring...
digging out, pulling weeds, making breathing room for last year's plants trying to reach up past the winter grass. At last, the winter grass is beginning to die-which doesn't mean it just goes away. But it's a tad easier to deal with. Still, after having walked away from the herbs beds late last fall, we have to decide what to save, what to till under. 
I had planted some sage last season, and it did not have time to do much before the cold weather set in. I was surprised to see it peeking out from the weeds on the end of this thyme bed, but there is was...
digging out, pulling weeds, making breathing room for last year's plants trying to reach up past the winter grass. At last, the winter grass is beginning to die-which doesn't mean it just goes away. But it's a tad easier to deal with. Still, after having walked away from the herbs beds late last fall, we have to decide what to save, what to till under. 
I had planted some sage last season, and it did not have time to do much before the cold weather set in. I was surprised to see it peeking out from the weeds on the end of this thyme bed, but there is was...Behold, the Weapon of Choice!
the long-handle weeding hoe...
with a blade on one side and a fork on the other, you have a hoe to use when you come across a mean big weed with a giant stalk (gotta have a hoe for that); with the fork you can hoe parallel to the ground and gently lift weeds out - even right up against a plant. I gave up the regular garden hoe a long time ago...I just love this tool....
And here we are after just an hour or so
I would have made it all the way through the thyme as well, but came across the world's biggest nasty ant bed. Because we don't whip out the poison for this (or anything else!), and I'm not about to pour boiling water on top of my precious thyme plants, I just get in there with the above-mentioned weapon and mess the bed all up. If you make them mad enough, I find the ants will move. Which is fine. They can move ten feet over. that's fine too. Just get out of my thyme bed!
And here we are after just an hour or so
I would have made it all the way through the thyme as well, but came across the world's biggest nasty ant bed. Because we don't whip out the poison for this (or anything else!), and I'm not about to pour boiling water on top of my precious thyme plants, I just get in there with the above-mentioned weapon and mess the bed all up. If you make them mad enough, I find the ants will move. Which is fine. They can move ten feet over. that's fine too. Just get out of my thyme bed!
Hello! I was searching (in vain) for CSA farms nearby and found you! I'm down here in Thibodaux and hope that we will see more of this in the future. I come from a farming family (Iowa farming) and grew up in Southern California where I just adored venturing into the grapefruit and orange orchards the butted up to my neighborhood and picking apples from our trees. I feel like my children are missing out on something, not being exposed to farming.
ReplyDeleteI hope your 2010 is even more successful than last year!!
thanks!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Patterson, which is not so far from where you are!
I believe this season will be fabulous...sorry you are so far away.