Cleanup

DH and I spent some time this weekend in the garden, cleaning up. I took out all my bamboo trellises, and he and I together pulled up all the mulching fabric. That was kind of an adventure, because the one section that had wood chips on top of it, plus weeds growing through the mulch into the fabric, weighed about a ton. We tied a rope around it and tried pulling it off with the 4-wheeler, and broke the rope. Eventually DH ended up getting a tow strap out of the garage and using that to pull the fabric up. Next year I may submit to using glycosphate after all.

I've decided that if I use the fabric again next year, I will use "NEW" fabric, not fabric saved from the previous year. I had a lot of fungus diseases this year, how much due to the wet spring and how much was due to the "REUSED" fabric wasn't really clear, but hopefully new fabric will avoid the problem.

Today I planted the daylilies from Unger farm's Heritage Day sale. I planted them on the west side of the garage amongst the roses of Sharon. This was not my original plan, but the place that DH allowed me to plant them. North to South, I planted:

- Caesar's Brother (or maybe Johnny Rocket Orange - the label is printed on one side and hand-written on the other...)
- Unknown melon-colored daylily (not fragrant)
-Wicked Witch ( a purple, fragrant variety)
- Little Audrey (cream with Red Eye)

I've recently noticed a problem with my elbow which the doctor confirms is tennis elbow, and tells me it will take up to a year to heal. I used the Mantis tiller to soften up the beds where they are planted, but I wasn't able to start it myself, had to get DH to pull the rope. I also noticed significant soreness while pulling on the landscape fabric to remove it. I feel like a pansy, can't do anything by myself.

I've asked DH to till up the garden (to disturb any insect larvae that are hoping to overwinter) and find me a load of manure, as well as move the oldest compost pile into the garden. Leaves are starting to fall, if I emphasize putting the leaves into the COMPOST pile and not directly on the garden, maybe he will listen to me. The heat of the compost pile helps to eliminate fungus diseases, as well as keeping the decomposing leaves from stealing nitrogen from the soil.