summer solstice
i have a head cold, or at least i am getting over one.
aaron stopped by and he finished digging out the path, and then put in the weed barrier.
we discovered the stone we are to use is very muddy. i tried constructing a screen, but the holes are too big. I think i will get some vinyl screen to put under it tomorrow. ican think of no other way to effectively rinse the stone. at lunch, we joked about rinsing each one to place in the path as a zen medititation.
i covered the areas around the sqaush, watermelon, and cucumber with straw and newpaper. I ran out of newspaper and the house was locked up, otherwise I probably would have gone until dark.
the garden could use at least an hour of the sprinkler tomorrow at the end of our day.

to do/buy list
screen
plastic sheeting for temporary large area weed barrier
probably more mulch
probably more straw
fertilize with epsom salt
replace the dead pepper plants
lawmowing / weedeating

A quick recap of the week (not a lot to report....yet):

Earlier this week: I've been very spotty when it comes to gardening this week, mostly because of the rain. I got a little further digging out the trench where we will put the garden path, and have otherwise just done some spot weeding. On Wednesday I weeded out the space between the tomato rows and laid down newspaper and straw.

Today: Belle and I went shopping for the much needed weed guard and mulch. We bought 4 bags of pine mulch, which came to 12 cu. ft. (or about 144 sq. ft. spread out at a depth of one inch). We also got a roll of commercial grade weed guard, 3 feet by 50 feet. This will hopefully be much improved over the "economy grade" polypropylene stuff we used last year. The stuff we dug up from the herb garden when we first took over the space was still probably twice as thick as what we just bought -- they probably call it "industrial grade" or something. All told we spent $27 (about $15 for the mulch, $12 for the weed guard).

Tomorrow's going to be a big day: re-tie the tomato plants, weed around the tomatoes and peppers and get the rest of the straw down around them, and the same treatment for the sunflowers; finish digging out the garden path; weed around the flower plots and, if we have time, lay out newspaper and mulch around them; also put down the weed guard in the path and fill with the decorative yellow rock we've been saving for three years. I doubt we'll have time for it all, but we've got a lot to do.

We should also probably water all the plots, including herbs and the snapdragons in front of the house, at the end of the day.

i had a big wedding over the weekend. the garden needed a big weeding. i got a whole hour in the garden since last sunday, and it shows. at least the strawberry patch is under control. weed control and prevention, as well as tying up the tomatoes (time number two) will be my garden priorities until the whole of the veg garden is covered with straw and newspaper. and then the sunflowers with straw and newspaper.
the tomatoes are bigger than knee high right now.
everything has really popped up over the last few days.

i think we should plant radish & carrot under the beas and peas.

i really want a lawnmower to call our own. and a weedeater.