I've never blogged before, not sure about the whole process. I'm allowing comments because otherwise, I will feel like I'm talking to a wall like a crazy person. I'm getting up there; I don't need to give my children anymore ammunition on the "put her in a home" topic! :-)
So, I've been gardening all my adult life. As a kid, yard work was something we were "made" to do as punishment. One would think I would hate it, but I don't. We have always rented, so there was always the "how much do I want to spend on someone else's yard?" quandary. The fact is, none of us really own the earth, do we? We borrow it from our children, as the saying goes. I want to give it back to my children in better condition than I found it. The earth needs me. I'm repairing it as fast as I can. The act of giving is good therapy.
I have long had the policy, "Weed a weed, plant a plant." In other words, don't take something out until you have something else to put in its place. Our "new" yard, has really tested my resolve. The desiccated soil was riddled with 80 years of thistles seeds waiting to explode the moment the mower dude stopped mowing the mostly dead lawn and I attempted to garden. I start to make head way, and then it gets away from me. I don't invite friends over to see my new garden because it doesn't match the standards of the old one. And yet, I'm proud of it.
Currently, the thistles are feeding the bees and the birds. The wildlife is amazing. I attempt to do the responsible thing and knock all the seed heads down so the seeds stay in my yard and not float off to someone else's. Insane, I know. But my clay soil is so compacted, it needs all the help it can get, even if it is from weed seeds. The thistles have been breaking up the soil for the last several years and I think next year, the soil will be loose enough, I'll be able to defeat it by planting things that might out compete it, though what that might be is anyone's guess. It takes a thug to beat a thug. We shall see which thug wins the ring next. :-)
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