A productive weekend�

2007-03-05

Had a really nice weekend. Worked in the yard every day for a couple of hours. I�m getting stuff done. The front is much less overgrown. Put in new plantings on the south side and am now digging out the north side. I�m putting in a lot fewer species and fewer plants. I like an abundant looking yard, but it was just too much before. I�m also putting in herbs along the border of the walk. Easy clipping for dinner. Repotted the last banana using the usual method, break the pot.

Also filled one empty water pot and planted the newly acquired lotus roots in it. I�ll be changing the location of one of the lotuses, but I need to clean out the water pot where I want to put it. Yuck. I actually found a (dead) leech in that pot once. It must have ridden in on one of the plants. I�ve have a hard time cleaning out that pot ever since.

Did have another yuck to my weekend. A plant that I bought long ago in a 4 inch pot took over an area near a sprinkler I needed to replace. A cuphea. Pretty plant; bright red and purple, tubular blossoms. Nasty plant, tiny, almost invisible hair like spines all over it. When I prune it, the blossoms stick to my gloves like Velcro. I�ve learned from past experience that I�ll break out in hundreds of tiny blisters. Tiny, itchy blisters.

I decided to dig out the plant. Who needs a plant like that near a walkway? Who needs a plant like that at all? I wore long sleeves, long pants and gloves. What I didn�t count on was that the spines are small enough to go airborne. And that they will stick to the sweaty surface of my skin. The sweaty surface of my face to be exact. Fabulous. A face covered with tiny itchy blisters. The itch drove me crazy for 2 days. Benadryl gel and aspirin were on my menu for the next couple of days.

The itch is now gone and my face never really got red or spotty, but I feel like a lizard that is about to shed its skin. It�s going to happen soon and it�s not going to be pretty.

Still, it was a productive weekend and despite the itchy-peely and the sore legs I enjoyed myself.

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