Creepy Crawlies

We were only away from the yard for about 5 days, but in the spring that time is momentous. When I left, my herb garden was nice and orderly. The lettuce bed had two rows of well-established teen aged greens with another three rows of baby greens close behind. The vegetable beds where I had just planted fennel, peppers and cucumbers were free of weeds waiting for the seedlings to appear. What the hell happened!? I returned to some type of vine like weed that seems to be winning over the lettuce and herbs. It's a smart devilish weed who is wrapping itself in with the plants I want to keep, making removal very difficult. I got most of it out, but not all. The vegetable garden decided to also invite the weeds back in. This is a little more difficult, because I have never planted fennel before. I'm hoping fennel seedlings look like grass because I left a bunch of that there. The cucumber seedlings though are doing great. They have the benefit on being planted on a mound so I'm fairly certain it really will be a cucumber plant before too long. All of this weeding took place right before dusk so I am now swelling up with several mosquito bites on my legs. Please excuse the slapping sound you might be hearing. It's just me hitting myself repeatedly.



I also returned to suspicious holes in the lettuce. Last summer, Chris and I were really excited to see the some slugs hanging out on the garage door when we came home late one night. We quickly found out that we had a slug infestation and slugs aren't really all that cool. Tonight I set the first of the slug traps. It appears these little rascals have a thing for the Miller High Life. We've heard leaving cheap beer in solo cups will take care of the slug problem (they are drawn to the scent and then drown in it - not unlike frat boys I dated years ago.) Now if I could just find a beverage that will take care of the mosquitoes.