TGMO (or, Thank Goodness Monday's Over)

Yikes - I seem to have billing amnesia each month as the deadline comes to enter in all my time. Yes, I know I am supposed to keep track of it and I use my smarttimers and all, but really, no one should track their time in 6 minute increments. It is just not natural, and a big pain the butt, too.

All right, that's done (til next month, there's a reason I especially like months with 31 days). It was a busy weekend, and if we weren't already sore enough from dragon boat practice, why not add a little gardening to the mix? Let's just say that the last owners of the house left us with heirloom weeds (and a boatload, literally, of cats, an outboard motor and a whole host of other garbage filling up 2+ dumpsters, but I am not bitter or anything).

These "heirloom" weeds have roots that are a wonder of science. Especially in the front, where they seem to have formed a web that would make Spiderman proud. Personally, I think they should be studied for their starfish-like powers of regeneration since no matter how much of their root system we pull up or cut off, they keep coming back. But this weekend we took a stand, kind of like D-Day for the front sections. The pictures don't do it justice, and I have to keep reminding myself that gardening is a work in progress. (And, I just discovered that if you right-click on the pictures and chose "view image" you will be able to see the weeds in upclose detail - exciting!) Personally, the Zen-garden crap is lost on me, I prefer the gallon plants that are already somewhat grown with flowers. Josh is the one with patience to grow from seed (and I must say, the nasturtiums he planted which have already sprouted are sort of cute, but they better flower soon or they are outta here - just kidding, sweetie (but seriously)). . .

The area left of the stairs in mid-weed

Note the cute dog, not a weed but likes to eat them. What you cannot see in the mess of green is a little formerly forelorn stonecrop plant, which was previously under the cover of some of the largest shamrocks in the world and the killer Spiderman-web of weeds. Poor little plant, no wonder he seems a bit stunted.




TA DA after the weeding is done and all the plants are in!

And, we got to plant two of the hops to start covering the stone wall:





And finally, we got the tree from the neighbor down the street planted. We can't remember the tree's name, but the small pink and white flowers smell like tiare (ahh, Tahiti) and when you rub the leaves, they smell *exactly* like peanut butter. Weird, but true:



And I guess one of the things the prior owners did not totally mess up with either their active attempts or felonious neglect are the roses. (Actually, I think the fact they did just about nothing is what saved them):