Friday, August 31, 2007

path madness

just as I get to the end of the various garden paths, weeding tham and tidying edges. . .
the first part has grown more weeds, so I need to start all over again. . . .
Daisy supervising

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love to garden with my cats watching. Daisy looks lovely. Sara from farmingfriends

grannyfiddler said...

as i wander along your path, enjoying my afternoon cuppa, it occurs to me that i should tell you my elderly neighbor's method (many years ago, before i was a granny myself) for controlling those hard-to reach weeds between stones... she was a frugal woman, and gardened organically before the practice even had an official name. she used to bring out the boiling water from cooking her potatoes or veggies for dinner (cooked without salt, for she knew in advance where the water would end up) ... she'd bring that scalding water out to her garden, and i'd see her trotting about, pouring it on the vairous weeds that her hoe and trowel couldn't quite expedite. she had, i recall, a most beautiful and productive garden, with very few weeds. i've since read that boiling vinegar works even better, and tried that with some success on dandelions, when i used vinegar in my water kettle to clean the minerals out. i just boiled vinegar in the kettle, and poured the boiling stuff on the weeds. aparrently the acid is neutralized very quickly by the soil, and doesn't affect its ph to any large extent.

Lowa said...

This is frustrating, yet funny from this end!

Your cats are BEAUTIFUL! :)

Wow, what Grannyfiddler wrote sounds like a good idea!

peppylady (Dora) said...

I like your pathway. we been collecting flat rock to built a patio out our back way.
Daisy is a pretty Kitty.

clairesgarden said...

Sara, yes, my two 'helpers' are a nice addition to gardening.
Grannyfiddler, that sounds fab, I'm going to try it. especially the dandelion roots that I cant get out.
Lowa, I can see the funny side, I just don't have time to be forever weeding. Daisy and Tansy thank you!
Peppylady, most of my paths are collected brick and stones but I had to buy a whole load to get it finished off. I often think Daisy would make a good photo to put on notecards, but perhaps I am biased?

Madcap said...

I love paths like that, Claire. Beautiful, with weeds or no.

clairesgarden said...

Madcap, thankyou!

Kerri said...

Claire, what's a primrose doing in your garden at this time of year? Is that usual? It's beautiful.
I think you should definitely put the lovely Daisy on notecards :)
I read the vinegar tip on Stuart's blog (Gardening Tips & Ideas) early in the year. It works great..heated or not. I put it in a spray bottle and squirt away on the back patio.
Your paths looks really pretty. I want some :)
We never sift our compost dear :) But serfs you really should have for a wee bit of help :)
We have many pumpkins & squash this year (and cukes, and zucchini!!!!) but had hardly any with all the rain last year. Glad you have at least one.

clairesgarden said...

Kerri, the primrose is a bit unusual, its been lurking and just as the veggies got cleared some more light must have hit it. I might try the vineger too then.

Lynn said...

Weeds in the path is a huge gripe of mine! It is endless. Not long ago I was about to cover the whole thing in black plastic until they were dead!

Your paths are beautiful though, weeds and all.

Anonymous said...

Hi Claire. I too love your paths and such... I've heard about the boiling water to kill weeds. Also a vinegar and salt mixture, or vinegar with a few drops of dish washing liquid in it. This summer I tried putting vinegar and a wee bit of dish washing liquid into a spray bottle and sprayed weeds, including burdock. It worked well enough, but then I did add some salt to the next one and it worked even better... salt, vinegar and dish washing liquid. I didn't heat the mixture, just did it cold and the salt was for melting ice.

Daisy is without a doubt beautiful enough to put on note cards. I think that a fantastic idea.

It sure was great talking to you on the phone the other day. Thanks so much for calling. HUGS.

clairesgarden said...

Primrozie, usually I'm quite happy to weed them but the weather hasn't allowed the spare time this year.
Alice, good to talk to you too! I'll try your weed mixture out my paths.

Anonymous said...

Daisy is so pretty--and so are all your lovely flowers.

clairesgarden said...

Becky, Daisy thanks you, its getting near to the end of any flowers here, the weeds keep growing though!