needed one of these !!!
Last week when it was blistering hot I decided to try to tame the garden, we only have a very small patch of grass, but it has not been touched for along while! So I borrowed a strimmer and in the blistering heat I attacked the overlong grass and weeds. Before I knew it Joe and David were out to help which was great, usually they will not leave the computer or the television. Both boys had a good go with the strimmer (supervised of course) and with both boys, Sarah and myself we terminated a lot of weeds, and partially tamed the long grass. The grass was raked, the green wheelie bin filled and now we can actually see the path to the front door!
It was a pleasant surprise for me that they boys were so glad to help, and I’m looking forward to doing more with our small garden now. I’m not a natural gardener, and I worry that half the “weeds” I want to pull up may be flowers and vice versa! I think that I’ll set the boys a learning challenge to find out what in the garden are weeds, and then we’ll set about removing them. We did start pulling out lots of blue coloured plants yesterday as they seem to be taking over the flower beds, but I noticed that the bees seemed to be taking more of an interest in these blooms than anything else, so I changed my mind and decided to leave them alone. I think I’m going to have to get a book of garden flowers, or more usefully garden weeds!
This is what we’d like the garden to look like …lol
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Thanks for the link. It’s so nice that your boys will work with you. I never figured out how to teach mine the love of gardening, and now they are long gone to lives of their own. If you take some pictures, sometimes readers can help identify things. They have for me. 🙂
Weeds are sometimes just wildflowers that decided to take up residence in your garden.
Thanks for the comment, I wasn’t expecting the boys to want to help, but they just did, which was great! The pictures idea is a clever one, I shall give it a try!
Yep, definitely take photos – I’ve had some fantastic responses to queries I’ve had regarding flower identification. It’s certainly helped me learn (and remember) a lot more than just browsing through a book. I was once recommended this book:
Field Guide in Colour to Wild Flowers by Dietmar Aichele
but I’ve yet to actually buy it – I think it is actually out of print, but you can find used versions of this on amazon.
Thanks for your comment, I’ll look for a copy on Amazon!
Glad your boys helped you. It’s always a chore to keep the garden nice, isn’t it?
Here, we had some lovely spring flowers [http://pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/spring-pictures-1/], but now it’s getting way too dry.
Best regards from southern TX,
Pit
P.S.: And thx for following my other blog [“Bilderbuch”]
Weeds and flowers are quite easy to distinguish. Flowers succumb to pest, disease, drought, flood, high temperatures and low temperatures. They are always finding reasons to die. Weeds, on the other hand, are indestructible. Our new system of mowing the easy bits and leaving the tangles of weeds is working really well. The garden looks cared for and still natural. And the wildlife is flourishing – hedgehogs, bees, lizards and snakes taking advantage of the tangly parts. 🙂 Good luck with your garden.
Thanks for your comment, after a couple of weeks of solid rain the “garden” is looking a lot better. And as for the wildlife w found kitten in it the other day, so we have a new member of the family now!
Wow! A kitten – that’s a real result. How wonderful for you. 🙂
He’s now called Sparky, and he’s shredding the house!
Never, as George Bush might say, overunderestimate the destructive power of a kitten. 😀
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