A Day Of Puttering

I had a clean house, a clean garden and clean laundry. What was I going to do with myself on a day off? Obviously the answer was grab my clippers, put on my gloves and amble through the garden.

I was up early and Sunday mornings starts wilderness quiet before the scenic byway gets going. The meadow was alive with the sound of crickets.

The first item I tended to was a freshly dug hole by the wasp and hornet eater I had spied yesterday evening. I had the hole filled back in and was ready to move on when the yellow jacket stung me good. Damn bug!

This was the second sting on the same hand in three days. All I got to say is, if bee and wasp stings have any medicinal value, I'm good. I get multiple shots on an annual basis.

I wandered up to the byway to look at the last of the fading chicory.

The ironweed is stepping in to replace it for the late summer season.

Maybe I can do a little tidying in the roadside vegetable garden.

Yes, all this chaos laps at the edges of the vegetable garden. There are actually quite a few butternut squash beneath all that.

I pulled a few weeds, organized dead squash vines for decomposition and filled a full sack of tomatoes. I harvested a nice batch of okra for tonight's supper from the finest okra patch a 4000' elevation has ever seen.

I'm already at five side dishes of okra for the year and more is to come. This is a new record.

Helianthus maximiliani and Ironweed make a good and very tall combo. Then it was time for a nap.

After an early nap there was plenty of day left. Let the chopping for the utility line begin. Not.

I have been eyeing the trees and the power line ever since the threat of destruction reared it's ugly head to get some sense of what parts of the garden were most vulnerable. I have seen the quality of their work and was not impressed. What could I do to mitigate the carnage?

So it was decided that I would start chopping before the tree butchers return in November. The idea is to make their job easier and more obvious, which is to get the high stuff on the big trees that is out of my reach. The idea is to clarify the Witch Hazels and Dogwoods which will never reach the power lines so that I can clearly state, Leave them alone!

The section of forest on the slope below the roadside vegetable garden, not being actively gardened, needed the most attention. It was done neatly in an hour and half because I have done this editing process several times before.

My section of the utility easement has remained tree free because of me. I have spent plenty of time pushing back the edge of the forest over the last nine years. I knew this day was coming.

My section of the easement is in such good shape I can consider a round of pre-chopping a bit of puttering in the garden on a lazy summer day.

And when I was done there was still time to amble through the garden and watch the sinking sun light up the grasses along the scenic byway.