Our heat index this afternoon is forecast to be 105. Our hottest month here in Arkansas is August. I can’t wait.
Yesterday I started a weekend project of cleaning out our raised bed square foot garden, since Mother Nature has cooked it despite daily irrigation. The first thing I did was spray the six 4′ x 4′ chest high wooden boxes with EIGHT, a spray that kills bugs, but doesn’t harm plants, animals, or people. Then I started pulling out dying plants. This took several sessions, but I got it done. I had to re-spray one of the boxes because when I pulled out some bolted lettuce, the ants came spewing up. They didn’t bite/sting me this time, though, thank goodness. I dug onions out and spread them on the screen part of our trailer to dry in the sun for several days.
Today I’ll do a bunch of clean up. I need to empty the two or three trashcan-fuls of plants I pulled and take them over to the barrel composter. I’ll take the strings off that mark the planting squares, since several broke when I was taking plants out. I still haven’t been able to find a string that doesn’t degrade rapidly in the sun, but I’ll continue looking. I’ll make sure I got all the onions and then re-spray the soil in the boxes with the bug killer.
I want to mix up some weed killer and spray it on the wood chipped floor of the garden area, and then around the perimeter of the garden, plus around the propane tank, trashcans of Mel’s Mix, etc.
I’ll feel happy if I can finish the “Cleanup of the Garden” finished by the end of the day.
creativeartworksblog 