Out…Out…Damn Ant!

 yesterday afternoon was spent trying to get my raised beds

 ready for planting. i always leave the dead plants

over winter for the critters. i found two caterpillars and a

praying mantis egg sac that i relocated near the garden

while weeding and turning the soil (the grubs were fed to 

the chickens).   and…..of course…..there

were fire ants. today... for an hour... i boiled huge pots

of water and poured them through the bed…over and 

over ...for an hour. after waiting thirty minutes i took a 

shovel and turned the soil and those darn things just came

 pouring out. soooo…i boiled and poured for thirty more

 minutes turning the soil after each pour. i'll check again
tomorrow to see if i got them to move. (the wire and
bricks are to keep the neighbors cats from using the
beds as their personal potty until i get them planted and
mulched.)

as you can see the grass has grown up in the gravel over

the winter. here in the country we have bermuda grass that

runs up through everything. when i made this garden spot i

got a neighbor to use a bobcat to scrape and remove all the

grass…put down landscape paper…and a good four inches

of gravel but that doesn't stop MY grass. the good thing is

that it's easy to pull out….just time consuming (and back

breaking). i garden organically so i don't use any type of

chemicals for grass or pests. it's hard work but

definitely worth the battle.

now i'm sitting here with a sore back thinking of that first

asparagus quiche and fresh tomato sandwich…yum.

ant and grass skirmish to be continued….