July 4th RAIN!

 The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. ~Patrick Young

Went to bed last night, no hint of rain in forecast.  Rainy morning and still dark at 7AM. 73° makes for pleasant weeding. (til I got too wet)

For weeks now, I have pondered just how to actually reduce the size of my garden(s). Winter and spring no real thought, just pull winter weeds, transplant sprouting cone flowers and sow some seeds.

Reality hits in the wee hours and keeps me awake. This morning, I think I have a workable plan.

The center of the gardens is a circle with a large mailbox for garden tools surrounded by Salvia Greggii.
The last three seasons have been hard on them. They have finally given up. I don't plan to replace them. It takes several seasons for them to be beautiful blooming, bee and butterfly attracting plants.  Not enough time anymore.

That said.  Salvias all come out. I will leave mailbox in the center. The hard part is clearing all weedy stuff out and keeping them down.  I cannot use corn gluten meal to deter seed germination as I plan to sow wildflower seeds in the whole bed.  This is sort of full circle.  The area once was a joy of wildflowers from Spring to Fall.

Extreme heat and drought took its toll and 3 of the beds are more or less given over to nature.  With a bit of weeding here and there. 

It will be another hard summer of trying to keep up.  Just hope the back and hands hold up.