Dirty little secrets cleaned up—for now

It’s one thing to have a few unplanted purchases sitting around; I think we all have them. I know I usually have some throughout the gardening season; indeed, there are 6-8 skillfully tucked away pots in my garden as I write this.

But today I took care of a much worse area of denial. Last year, I ignored, as I generally do, the horrible weed beds behind our house. I look at this every time I pull into the garage from the alley. Over the years, I’ve tried. I really have. I have a climbing rose (above, the much-maligned, badly-named, but well-performing Golden Showers), and a few bulbs planted, and have even tried other perennials, but it’s just too vulnerable a spot. You know how those spots are.

Today, I pulled as many weeds as fast as I could, dug huge holes, and threw in lily and gladiolus bulbs in 4 big holes, reprising my tulip strategy. Then I mulched. We’ll see. I have a feeling the weeds will attack again.