True Confessions . . .

As you likely have noticed from pictures of my garden that I have posted, I do, indeed, have weeds in my yard. Is anyone's yard totally weed free? That's not likely unless they have a personal gardener or a yard maintenance crew. Yesterday the Fresno County Master Gardeners held their annual home garden tour. They feature five homes with different types of gardens, kind of something-for-everyone. You can take pictures, ask questions (MG are posted at each garden), and take away new ideas that you might incorporate into your own garden. To make these gardens look perfect takes many long man-hours, put in by a team in each garden, over the course of several weeks. They do a lot of WEEDING, pruning and planting to bring each yard up to perfection. With my yard, I have no personal gardener or yard maintenance crew. The last eight years I have been going to college (including several summers), which has taken all of my time. I was able to get out into my garden only a couple of times, literally, over the course of each semester. I would also work in my yard during the winter breaks, but spring (Easter) breaks were used to write reports. This spring I spent two weeks in Sandpoint, Idaho, visiting my parents, so seed-starting/planting was pushed back and the weeds got a foot-hold. I have been re-doing my "sewing" room, turning it into a food storage room. Everything has been removed so I could paint, and that "everything" sits in my living room, family room and dining room (what a mess!). So, you can see, my gardening has taken a back seat for some time. And, spring has gotten ahead of me! With our heatwave early this season, the weeds burst forth with a vengeance, especially the nut sedge (it's worse than Bermuda grass). I also, with the help of my husband, Dave, am trying to get a new vegetable garden in. This has taken several weeks as Dave is working on his Master's Degree through National Schools, so he has been intensively working on that the past four weeks. When the new boxes are in place and planted, I will be able to focus more on the rest of the yard. The front yard is nearly weed-free, and looks nice for the neighbors. My husband has also bought and planted numerous flowers in the front yard, because he "wants lots of color!" Now, I will focus more on the backyard, especially the veggie boxes, and get into a working routine.