Excavating the Garden; or, getting scared by a fussy weed whacker

The first few days have been an excavation. Grass has grown tall and weeds roam free in the six raised beds in the main garden. With trowels in hand, we eliminated the weeds and found a few nice surprises:  four heads of lettuce self seeded and grew within the weeds; soil and straw remnants of the potato towers that had been piled up in a corner of the garden actually fostered a new crop of potatoes that greeted us as we excavated; a row of raspberries put in by Jean and Tory grew despite the heavy competition from tall grasses.

While Jordan ripped through the six beds, Katie attempted to weed whack the grassland that had been cultivated by the slow, wet spring. However, a small black knob broke off the weed whacker and flew somewhere into the mysteries of the tall grass and so she ended up having to cut the lawn with scissors. Pruning shears, to be exact.

Fortunately, by the end of the day, the main garden was cleared and ready for planting. We were exhausted and spent the next day planting starts in the greenhouse. That way, the starts will stand a chance once we move them from greenhouse to the Brutal Outside World that is the unpredictable weather of Montana.