Started Spraying Herbicide Today

Turned out to be a windy day and then clouds covered most of the valley, keeping temps in the low to mid 60's. I put two full-to-capacity sprayer loads on the tallest of the weeds. Four hours later, this is what the areas looked like . . . not any progress that I could see. I added two tablespoons of white vinegar to the herbicide mix. Hmmmm . . . we'll see if there's any advantage to doing this. The brown area in this photo is from spraying I did a few days ago with Roundup.






















When the sprayer is full, it's a pretty heavy load for me to carry around, so I kept it on the ground and moved it a few feet at a time. I had the unit on a wide misting spray and I'll see how this does. All prior spraying was done using a stream somewhere midway between misting and single stream, which worked really well.

What kind of flower are you ?????

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

Marmy and I learned a new game.

I toss one of her soft toys (this one's a toy mouse) into the air, letting it land on the quilt. She pounces and plays with it until it seems to stop moving, then she lays on top of it. I usually take it from her and toss it in the air again, and the game goes on. Yesterday, I guess I was too slow in grabbing the mouse, and she bit me. Ah . . . this is no game to her; it's serious mouse business.

And da' weeds they are a-growin' . . . like weeds

This is either a giant dandelion or a local thistle. If it blooms before I get some Roundup on it, I'll be able to tell by the color of the flower.














What was only brown soil (read: dirt) less than a month ago, has turned into a green weedpatch from all the rain and snow that fell in March.








Where oh where did that lovely patch of gravel go? My plan to keep the weeds at bay hasn't been a perfect plan . . . obviously . . . however, I still have high hopes that once these lovelies feel the sting of some Roundup they'll go off to weed heaven or someone else's yard. And I only have until June 9 to get this finished. I'll start to spray tomorrow, if the wind dies down.

Meanwhile . . . the weeds keep growing

Turns out the battery charger I had for my weed sprayer didn't work, so I ordered a replacement online. It arrived today and the battery is undergoing a 14-18 hour charge. . . . . status below:

Is it lettuce yet?

Watching meslun grow is like waiting for the proverbial pot to boil . . . hmmmmm . . . (says she, tapping her foot in the dirt).

One and Only Tulip

I had to get one more shot of my one and only tulip before it faded.

More Spring Flowers

Color all over the yard. The flowering plum tree has lovely blossoms.



This mystery plant (I think it's a purple flag) is full of buds.


And the sole tulip of those I transplanted is ready to open.

Progress in the Mesclun Garden

If you look close, you'll see some tiny green sprouts amid all that brown soil.

Got the chicken wire all the way around the mesclun garden now, and just in the nick of time it seems. Two of the rows are showing tiny little green sprouts already.

Fixing a Leaking Outdoor Faucet

When planting the mesclun, I turned my outside water back on for the first time since the beginning of winter. Nighttime lows no longer get down below freezing, so we should be okay if I leave the water turned on at the outside valve. But this reminded me that I've had a leaky outside faucet for a year now.....which is why I had to turn the main valve off last year every time I used the water. Well, no more. The spouse is going to fix the leaking faucet. So, I found a video at AOL videos, and the job looks easy enough, if one has the upper arm and shoulder strength to wield a pipe wrench. We'll see. I'll take some snapshots to show the progress of this "honey do" task.

Growing Mesclun

I don't know how much if anything planting mesclun saves over buying it in those big tubs at the supermarket, but growing it is rewarding. A few years ago, I laid out a single spring planting and had enough for the whole neighborhood well into the hottest part of summer. This year, I set up a new space in the yard and will have to see how successful I am. Today I planted two seed packets that I bought directly from Burpee Seeds online: classic mesclun mix and sweet mesclun mix. I did a poor job of estimating how much of each packet to place in each row, and the last row has few seeds in it compared to the other rows. Maybe that means I'll have room for an early planting of basil. We'll see when this planting starts to spout.

I still have time to finish putting my rabbit fence around the bed. First, I have to find more chicken wire; then, I have to hope chicken wire keeps rabbits out.

Going Green . . . All the way

Today I got tired of a slow drain in one of my bathroom sinks. Nothing worse than brushing one's teeth and having the water (that you only turn on to rinse) start to back up in the sink. These are old pipes, probably full of rust and sharp edges, catching hair and everything else solid that manages to find a way down the drain.

So, I went to a wonderful website, mrsfixit.com, and found a solution for a slow drain that didn't involve risky chemicals or calling a plumber. I started my kettle of water boiling according to the instructions, then got a cup each of baking sode and white vinegar from the pantry. What could be greener? Since I'm unable to take the drain cover out of the sink, I merely made sure it was open, and poured the baking soda into the sink. Most of it stayed at the sink bottom, as I expected. Nevertheless, I then poured the vinegar into the sink, and voila! I had a sinkful of something that looked like Alka Seltzer once it's begun to work. Bubbles, boiling bubbles, or something like that. I wish now that I'd taken a picture of it.

After a minute or two, I poured the kettle full of boiling water into the sink. You should have seen this, too......next time, I'll take pictures.

To make a long story short, my sink now drains. Although the water doesn't rush down the drain like I'd hoped, it does empty much faster. In a week or so, I'll repeat the process to see if a second bubbling out gets a better result.

And I'll take pictures, I promise.

Early Sunsets

Spring evenings, after a rainstorm, are often the most beautiful of the year.

First Signs of Spring

The daffodils planted in sunny locations like this one are in full bloom. Unfortunately, this year some of the bulbs have been in the ground too long and they've stopped blooming. I'll dig them up and replant in another location (as the daffodil website recommends. If they don't bloom next year, I'll have to purchase new bulbs.

Still working that weedy side yard

I just read some interesting posts about bindweed eradication (the most interesting one being the suggestion of using a nuclear bomb). Thing is, though that suggestion carries much humor, the bindweed problem is not funny.....at least to me, a homeowner whose land becomes more filled with the weed every year as I stay one step behind in trying to eradicate it (getting rid of the wild pink Gilia is another issue).

All that said, my hope is that the gravel I'm slowly covering that area of the yard with will eventually do the eradication for me. As new bindweed shoots appear, I can spritz them individually with RoundUp, which I've learned empirically does kill the weed deader than a doornail. As far as keeping bindweed from popping up in the tree wells (since they are kept moist most of the summer), I've learned that laying down thick pads of newspaper (and holding it down with rocks) does the same thing as the gravel . . . keeps any light from reaching the weed's leaves or stems . . . and thus does not allow them to grow.

Problem solved . . . as soon as the labor is done.

Now as to the pink Gilia . . .