We’ve been getting rain fairly often and it sure has helped the gardens. All the vegetables are doing good and we are anxiously awaiting the first cucumber, tomato, and squash.

Another thing the rain has helped is the weeds. Weeds are just part of making a garden, just like hard times are part of our daily lives.

We let the weeds in the big garden get ahead of us. It took us about three days of working to get it back in shape.

Usually we’d work all day in the hot sun to get it sorted out, but this year we decided we would only work early mornings no matter how long it took to finish it. Of course with weeds you’re never really finished 🙂 We’ll have to start back at the beginning of the big garden in a few days.

For the first time ever we had squirrels eat our corn. They’ve stopped now, but they really did some damage. We’ve went back and replanted here and there so even though we hadn’t planned on a succession planting of corn this year we’ll have one anyway thanks to the squirrels.

There’s different ways to attack weeds. Matt’s preferred way is to use a hoe. I’d much rather get down close to the ground and pull up what I can and use a trowel to dig up what I can’t. Even though I’ve been gardening all my life I’ve never mastered the use of a hoe and sometimes chop down what I’m trying to grow.

Although weeding is an annoying part of making a garden, I’d much rather pull weeds than to fight bugs that love to eat our growing plants. Matt calls them pestilence.

I’ve made a run of pepper spray to battle the squash bugs. It’s the only thing we’ve found that words well. Notice I said works well—it doesn’t completely eradicate them. But it does keep them at bay.

The only thing that will take them out completely is picking them off by hand. That words fine for the big ones, but not after their eggs hatch out. I remove the eggs to prevent them from hatching, but I usually miss some.

I’ve tried all the things folks say to do from planting marigolds to laying pine laps around. None of them have worked for us.

One thing I haven’t tried is to wash the plants with soapy water and then spray it all off with a hose. Somehow I just can’t get myself to try that one, but maybe I will eventually.

The pepper spray will flat run the big ones out which makes for easy picking. There are many recipes for pepper spray out there. You can find the recipe we use here. The website gives several warnings about working with hot peppers. I wear gloves to make it and have had no problem with the scent being overpowering for me, but if I’m spraying in the garden Matt has to leave because it brings on a coughing spell for him.

Last night’s video: Special Early Bird Supper in Appalachia | How We Fix Our Old Timey Canned Sausage.

Tipper

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