I was grateful for the clothes my mother made for me, some of them turned out very well, and I loved the forest green velvet jumper (pinafore), broke my heart when the oh so soft yellow one got too small, and the navy blue wool school uniform (also pinafore) is an article of clothing I wish I still had. Apparently really liked that form of dress, more forgiving than a full dress, easier to wear than just a skirt and blouse.
I suppose I should be glad she didn't insist on making jeans when I pressed for having at least one pair. Which was not until the last year of high school.
But I had lots of dresses and skirts and pjs from patterns. She used the same pattern to keep herself in dresses through the decades. She found something she liked, and stuck to it. Given her height (4'11") and weight (heavy, series of yoyo diets), perfectly understandable, since buying clothes was nearly impossible for her. She wound up in "Boys" shoes for everyday, only ones wide, but small enough to fit, after many attempts at any other solution.
As I read through the captions, some tight knot inside me, that I hadn't even noticed, sliced open and unraveled in giggles, making sproing! noises.
Spent the night waking to persistent thoughts about planting, digging, and how to organize it. Worse than planning for a move or puzzling out which nursing school classes needed to be scheduled in what order and how many credits I needed.
This morning, as soon as the frost vanished, I trenched the edges where the thyme is to be. And found... weed sprouts. Those little buggers! NOOoooooooo!
So I re-dug, mostly along the first edge I worked, and had not worked thoroughly enough. Thick, deep roots, I hope the buckwheat can compete. This is the problem with removing one thing, something has to replace it. And it's just too early to put down frost intolerant plants yet. Laid down thyme seeds around half the edge, watered, swept, took out the bin of yard waste (the city composts this) and stopped. Have to stop, nowhere else to put weeds.
Eleanor wanted to go out, so we did. She's dealing with the harness a little better.
Long hot bath. Contemplating the OR saying "Dilution is the solution to pollution." Nothing is ever completely, perfectly pure, save in very specialized chemistry labs. Nor would it be of any use elsewhere. Story this week about eating snow, and how there are tiny amounts of some pretty nasty contaminants, but not enough to worry about. Perfection is not only unobtainable, but undesireable. It's boring and incomplete.
Thought about the 'perfectionists'* I've known, and how I've eventually come to dislike them all. Because they focus on some detail they have to get right, and miss actually doing the job. I've been dumped on by such folks at work, having to do the real work while they fuss. Standing in a blizzard, they obsess about the color of the buttons, and miss that they haven't put the coat ON.
Ok, now Moby wants to go out. Fair enough.
*Self described, always proudly self described.
8 comments:
I wonder if you could cut or tear about 3" strips of newspaper, bury the strips under about an inch of soil along the edges of the pavement to discourage the growth of weed seedlings until it's time to plant what you want to plant. Just a thought.... don't know if it would work. Some people do use newspaper between rows of plantings to stop weeds from growing in the paths.
Class,
If it was any other sort of weed, I'd give it a shot. Probably use leaves since I don't have newspaper. But this stuff is so deep rooted, so pernicious, I think I just have to be vigilant until I can seed with buckwheat.
I knew this was going to be a bugger of a job, and I was warned by the plumber's son, who is a landscaper. Honestly, I'm amazed I've gotten this far. Freakish warm winter is the only reason.
Although, maybe lay down some cardboard... hmmm, must see what I have.
Your garden work is such a neat-o process to watch, Zhoen---I am looking forward to updates all through the growing season.
You wrote, "This is the problem with removing one thing, something has to replace it. "
I recognize that from other efforts, including making changes in, say, eating.
A good reminder--thanks.
P.S. I got curious and googled the newspaper-block idea:
agardenforthehouse.com/2013/05/how-to-smother-weeds-with-newspaper
But another blogger wrote that her weeds just grew through the paper... (Some of those buggers can grown through concrete.)
Weeds are pretty impressive!
I'm thinking that for my raised beds I'll need to deweed them and have the new plantings at the ready to put in almost right away as it doesn't take long for the weeds to make their way back again.
http://whiskeyriver.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-can-we-ever-know-difference-we-make.html
I just read this, which you might already have seen, but it made me immediately think of you - and the love shown you by the Earth in the form of Soil's gifts to you. Earth is reciprocating, in material gifts for now, the love you show it with your hard work and caring.
Your gardens, plantings, cannot help but thrive, for Earth will return the caring to them it has received from you.
What an amazing cycle of natural agape love – spiritual and selfless; having nothing to do with any religion.
Hope this doesn't come across as melodramatic or corny, but I do believe we "reap what ye sow."
Made me think of water. How so many people insist on "pure" water, that "unfiltered" tap water is too contaminated to drink. (It is in some places, but I'm talking about Seattle and the type of people who will use it for washing dishes and drinking water for pets but refuse to drink it themselves.)
Pure water isn't actually good to drink. I'm guessing, being a medical person, you probably know this. And bottled water can easily be as bad or worse than municipal water. Hypocritical and ignorant demands for non-existent purity.
In ecological restoration projects, sheets of cardboard are very often used as weed-blocks. Flattened boxes. The added carbon from the boxes breaking down is also beneficial. Too much nitrogen is a near-universal problem that benefits weeds a great deal. Adding carbon evens out the C-N ratio and slows weed growth.
Fresca,
These weeds grow under the concrete blocks, so I suspect the cardboard may not work well. Still, worth a try.
Phil,
This was less than a month, in the first section I dug.
Crow,
Oh. No, I hadn't seen that. Oh, my. Well, it does feel like I'm loved back.
Pixie,
I remember tasting distilled water at the Toronto Science Center as a kid, it's awful.
I filter what goes into the kettle, only because of the amount of lime here, otherwise, tap is fine to drink.
I've broken down a lot of the boxes from the move in our back garden. Eats it right up and asks for more.
The patterns captions made me laugh till I cried, as you say, so familiar.
I've got buckwheat on order, it's a very historic crop hereabouts and the bees love it apparently.
Post a Comment