Machines Down

Machine breakdown is a bummer especially when it is the weed eater and the mower at the same time.   I have a problem with Johnson grass.  Being located in a creek bottom that floods means that there is Johnson grass seed from decades in the soil and the seed stays viable for a long time.   Mowing will kill or at least stunt the Johnson grass.  But on a wet year when seed can sprout and the mowing can’t be done Johnson grass grows here like crazy.  

weed eating

A couple of trips to town for parts, a mechanical Mouse and a few days labor got both machines back up and running.   Thank goodness.  Here is the weed eater starting at Johnson grass cut down.  The mower in the background is working but out of gas.  I'll have to run back to town for more gas.  Back when I first moved here and was young  I ran out of gas in my pickup a few miles down the road from my house.  I was able to coast the truck down a slight slope until I was only a couple  hundred yards from an elderly neighbor’s house, George Miller.   I walked up to his door and asked if I could use his phone to call my wife to bring me some gasoline.  He stood there looking at me for a minute and then he said,  “I don’t understand why you young fellas are always trying to wean them trucks.”      I miss the old timers.

Weed whipped

The Johnson grass gets so high that the mower has a hard time cutting it.  So I use the weed eater to cut down the tall grass and weeds.   I’ll let the cuttings dry a day or two and then mow and haul the clippings to the compose pile.

Weed splattered

I really like the way the machine works but eye protection is necessary because it sends tiny pieces of plant matter flying everywhere.  A dip in the creek for clean up afterward is preferred.

Bachelor Buttons

Having the weeds grow up can be advantageous, too.  I have had trouble getting bachelor buttons reestablished since expanding the garden.   Here’s one I found growing only because it was in an area that I would have normally kept mowed.  I’ll mow around it this year and throw the ripe seed around the edge of the field.   

Devil's Claw

One weed that I have always had (the seed must also be long living) is devil’s claw.  Here’s one that grew up in some other weeds in the onion patch that just got harvested.   I’m wondering about letting this one grow until it produces a few seed heads.  If I leave it alone all summer it will grow to somewhere between 10 and 20 foot diameter with hundreds or thousands of seeds in these weird looking nasty prickling seed heads.  I’m thinking I’m going to let it grow for a little while to get a few seed heads and some pictures of a fast growing plant for the blog.  It does have nice flowers.  It is real easy to weed out of the garden.  The roots are shallow and they pull easily.  I have probably pulled about 20 baby plants this year, so far.  They come up throughout the whole garden every year but only one or two new plants here and there scattered around.  Obviously, this one I’ve allowed to grow a little bit.  

Plato and kitten

Grass and weeds aren’t the only things reproducing and growing.  A baby kitten showed up here yesterday, not born here.  I fed it and told Plato that we are going to keep it so now he needs to protect it.  This morning it was doing fine.