I’m a big believer in the power of mulch. It’s the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to transform a yard. I offer up Exhibit A: an overgrown bed of weeds (plus a very scraggly rose bush) that was becoming an eyesore. Nothin’ that a bag or two of cedar chips couldn’t fix!
Sadly, I still had to pull the weeds by hand before laying down the mulch, but it should (in theory anyway) help prevent them. When I read this online,
Mulch won’t eliminate all weeds, but it dramatically reduces the time and effort you spend pulling them.
I was sold. ‘Cause weeds, man. They’re my white whale.
There were Exhibits B (side of the garage) and C (the raspberry orchard), as well, but no pics. I was mulch too busy to bother. When I wasn’t busy weeding this weekend, I was busy mowing. We were in a mad rush to get as much yard work done as possible for two reasons: Tara is headed to Nevada in a few days for a family visit over the Fourth of July weekend, so the gardening will take a pause, and the weather is about to turn brutal.
Heat would be one thing, but adding humidity to the mix and making it a long-duration event is just cruel. It’s going to feel like Satan’s sauna ’round here. Which sucks, because–figuring I had to take Tara to the airport on Wednesday, and Friday’s a state holiday*–I decided to take some PTO time myself. I’d envisioned doing a bit of hiking and spending some serious non-weeding time outside, but I’ll have to pivot now. Knowing me as well as I do, I have no doubt I’ll still whip up a grand adventure or two regardless of the weather.
*Friday, it turns out, is not a state holiday…something I only learned a week ago. When the legal holiday falls on a Saturday, as this one does, CheeseGov employees don’t get Friday off, but we do get an extra legal holiday to use before the end of the year, preserving our PTO balance. By then, I was too mentally invested in the idea of a gloriously long 5-day weekend to even consider changing up my plans, so I went ahead and claimed July 3 as my floating legal holiday. I am confident the governance of cheese will continue to take place despite my absence.
So yeah, we were out in the yard most of Saturday and Sunday, gettin’ ‘er done before the heat and humidity come muscling in. We had to take a brief break when it started raining and thundering mid-afternoon, and that turned into a permanent break for me. Tara’s back out there, but don’t you give me the stink eye, I got a lot accomplished myself. We are treating ourselves with grilled New York strip steaks (we’re ribeye fans, but have to slum it these days because holy cow, in every sense of the word, have ribeye steaks gotten expensive). And shrimp cocktail, which will give us an excuse to bust out the Bucky’s. Well-deserved, I would say, and since we won’t be together on Independence Day, this will be an early celebration of sorts. Probably what we’d end up having on the 4th of July anyway.
With all the recent rain, plus a lawn service, our yard is looking awfully lush these days. We’re getting some nice pops of color from Tara’s lilies, and the bee balm is beginning to bloom.
I’m telling you, if it weren’t for the heat and humidity, summer would be damn near perfect.
What food sacrifices or substitutions have you made in this wacky economy?
Mark My Words 
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