Monday, April 16, 2007

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does my garden grow? Okay, well my name isn’t Mary unless I’m having some kind of identity crisis I’m not aware of, but the answer to the question is that I see green things beginning to sprout, but I can’t seem to get the weather to cooperate so that I can get out there and dig around. Right now it just looks like a globby mess of dead stuff left over from last year. It's covered in rotted leaves which I told myself were mulch but were really just a sign of my laziness because I didn't clean things up before the cold weather hit.

This year I promised myself I would spend more time with the garden. Last year was a bust because (a) the funds weren’t there to do it properly; (b) I didn’t have much time to devote to it; and (c) the damn ant colony that took over my backyard refused to go quietly into that good night. But this year, this year will be different.

This year I’m going to plan. Strategize. Create a blueprint of what I want to grow and where I want to put it. I’m going to dig up old stuff the previous homeowner put in that I don’t particularly like and replace it with my own vision. I’m going to add more color, prettier flowers, fewer hostices (no idea how to spell that but sound it out).

And I’m going to get rid of those damn ants if I have to dig up them up and pitch them into my neighbor’s yard. Not very neighborly of me I grant you, but they dug up their yard to get rid of the ants, and the next summer my yard was overtaken. Where do you think those displaced ants migrated to? I say turnabout is fair play.

Unless any of you gardeners out there have a better idea...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I rage a war against ants every year. This year, I swear, I'm going to win.

Not much of a gardner but can't imagine pulling anything out that's growing. I'd just plant colourful stuff around it.

Unknown said...

I hate ants. I never know how to get rid of them without using major ant killer. Check with Home Depot, they could give you a few ideas.

I'm going to rip up my garden this year as well. I only moved into our house at the end of July, so there wasn't much I could do. This spring though...look out!

Anonymous said...

I use an ant killer that is non-toxic for people, animals, birds etc... Can't remember the name of it, but it's safe for the environment, just not ants. I'll check my garage and let you know.

Of course, some ants are good to have around since they aerate the soil, but too many can wreak havoc with your landscape. We get the big carpenter ones, which chew your wood, so I get rid of those ones first.

What gets me is the rocks. I spend most of my time digging up rocks. Good way to build up muscle, though. :-)

Melissa Amateis said...

I'm not a gardener. I get spring fever and want to plant flowers in my front flower bed, but when it starts getting too hot, I no longer care anymore. I am NOT a hot-weather person, and the poor flowers suffer because of it!

Bailey Stewart said...

I'm with Melissa - just not a gardener and I admire people who love to do it. I just don't like heat.

Go to a nursery and ask them about ants. I have to fight them in the house, but that stuff is different than what goes outside.

Julie S said...

Ugh. Every year I plan to do something with the gardening/ landscape and I never follow through.

We just had a new drainfield installed so our entire backyard is dirt. We're putting in an irrigation system, but doing it ourselves, so maybe it will get done sometime next year.

Don't even get me started in ants...They're so evil.