The 2000 onions I painstakingly planted this spring were being lost to the weeds. My wheel cultivator did a great job between the rows, but between the plants and next to the plants, lamb's quarter, velvet weed, creeping charlie, purslane, bindweed, and purple clover were gobbling up the nutrients, water, and sunlight these onions needed to grow.
Cindy, my dear sister, came down from Madison for a weekend of weed pulling, chatting, and loving on my daughter Ally. In the photo, she (we?) are almost finished with the onions. Only took us about 10 hours! Behind the onions are the potatoes ready for their third hilling. Farmer husband Gary saw some nasty Colorado potato beetles devouring some of the Norland Dark Reds. So quick as a bunny, I made up some spinosad spray (organic OMRI approved) and got rid of those nasties.
Later that same day Cindy begin the hard task of reclaiming my neglected red raspberries. I was only able to weed about a third of them this spring. Those 1/3 look fabulous and are starting to put on fruit. The rest need light and air and space in which to flourish. So dig, yank, scrape, pull and twist out those weeds.....
And then we were off to the strawberries. After many hours of work digging and pulling, we got about a third of next year's strawberries weeded. If my fingers heal from this perpetual painful nail bed infection, I hope to get in there and finish the weeding. I was just so thrilled to still see some plants surviving. What a blessing!
Today's Journey Joys: making strawberry jam from fresh strawberries in our garden, the pitter-patter of light rain, driver's education and practice for son Ben, dear wonderful friends, and a gracious giving and amazing sister.
