Come to my Garden Tour and Support Addiction Treatment at Serenity Inns

While getting my garden ready for my garden tour it occurred to me that weeding out the tyrants in the garden is like dusting in the house. It never ends.

Lets say you try to be prudent and decide to work smart--you will do a room a day and then presto! Its done in a week and you can relax. But no----where you started is now dusty again.

I have tried the same strategy in the garden---a section at a time: the front beds, the side beds, the wild reaches of the backyard. Come to find out, the outside of the house is in cahoots with the inside: after finishing the whole yard, where I started is now WEEDY AGAIN.

And those weeds are deceptive. Some look pretty and so I relent (not to save them, but to save my back). Bad mistake. I start again on the rotation of the beds and in a weeks time those pretty weeds have gleefully turned on me and taken over the bed. Bullied all of my perennials and shoved them aside.

Inside the house I have experimented with other strategies: pretending not to see the dust (delusional), blowing on the dust I do see (not very hygienic), asking my husband to dust (off loading the task to a loved one--not so nice), but my favorite is plugging my hairdryer into a long extension cord and walking around the house with the hairdryer on high and blowing away the dust. Works great, though I have to be careful of lightweight and delicate trinkets on the tables. (If you share this strategy, please do not reveal from whom you learned of this).

I wish there was something similar to use in the garden, but I have not yet discovered such a strategy. An outdoor blower doesn't dislodge weeds firmly anchored by their roots. Smart weeds. Dust not so smart, no roots.

I have thought about what my grandmother would say: "The best things in life you have to work for," but that doesn't help me change my attitude about weeding. I would prefer to do the work in a way that doesn't seem like So. Much. Work.

I suppose I could hire someone, but I would probably spend as much time hovering over them and pointing out the weeds they've missed (I am kind of particular) as just doing the weeding myself.

So I am doubling down on all the weeds and it will look lovely for one day only--July 11--come see!

If you have ideas that work for YOUR weeds, come to my Garden Tour

Saturday July 11 from 10am--2pm and share your strategies!

Two gardens: mine & my neighbor's at 4827 S. 94th St and 4881 S. 94th St Greenfield

All proceeds go toward supporting Serenity Inns, an addiction treatment center in Milwaukee for men in honor of our son Ethan.

Suggested donation $15--honor your loved one's fight addiction!