June 28 - what happens when you don't weed for 3 months?

As the name implies...I haven't weeded my garden yet this year. This feels like some twelve step program "Hi, my name is Mickey, and I'm a lazy gardener".

Since I have a guests scheduled for next week, I suppose it would be a good time to start weeding (Before/after photos to come in a future post). What does the lazy gardener do to weed? Well, I let a sprinkler run for about 4 hours last night, getting the ground good and drenched. It had all day today for draining, and by tonight was pleasantly damp - good weed-pulling dirt. An hour's worth of work netted me 1/8th of the garden weed free, including pulling up all those nasty thistles and dragging a hoe across the surface to tear up sprouts that didn't belong there. I also took the opportunity to trim off the lowest tomato branches on that row; A feat I swear to do every year to keep the dampness off the base of the tomatoes, but never seem to accomplish.

The lettuce and spinach bed is partially cleared as well, although the spinach didn't grow as well as previous years - there are a lot of gaps in the row. (Perhaps I should let people think I've eaten lots of spinach this month?) I suspect the weeds overtook some of the baby spinach - lesson learned.

My late planted peas are finally blooming, I may or may not get any decent quantity - the hot weather seems to disagree with the peas. Radishes are finally ready to pick (just in time for said party).

I planted two entire beds, nearly 1/5 of the garden, in sunflowers, which have sprouted magnificently. The plants are nearly 3 feet tall already, so I declare this year a victory over the critters and birds stealing my sunflower seed. I've planted the seeds much deeper, almost 2 inches below the soil level, as a deterrent.

On a side note, we have acquired a new sprinkler for the garden. If I can find the brand, I'll post it, but it's one of those that sits up about 3 feet off the ground. It seems to be much more gentle of a rain pattern than my tried-and-trusty impact sprinkler, but falls about 4 feet shorter in spray diameter. Perhaps this is due to water pressure (another hose was running while I compared the spray pattern). In all, it covers nearly the entire garden, and does less 'damage' from the water jet. I think I'll stick with it for a while and see what the verdict is at the end of summer.

--Mickey