Pulling Weeds

   I know I said I was going to work on the sock drawer. I had every intention of spending as long as it takes to get that drawer into shape. I decided to do something else instead.
  On Friday, the sun was out. It wasn't supposed to rain. We were housebound due to the large dirt pile directly in front of our driveway as the county crew was preparing to put in the new street. I decided that it was a good time to go and pull a few weeds.
  I put on a T-shirt and old pair of workout capris. C suggested that I wear gloves, but I didn't want to. I wanted to get my hand in the dirt. I can't feel anything with gloves on and I don't feel like I can grip anything with gloves on. I also went barefoot. Maybe this would be a chance to get rid of those sandal suntan lines off my feet.
  I went out to survey the territory. I soon realized that this was going to be more than just pulling few weeds. The entire garden was covered, completely covered with crabgrass mixed with a few plants grown out of control and a couple other weeds. I could see some of the flowers I had planted, but not very well. This was going to be a big job.  I went to get our wheelbarrow.
  I decided I was going to start on the side of the garden nearest the street. I began to pull. The first victim were the bell flowers. (I think that's what they are called.) It's not that I have anything against them, but they overgrew a few years back. I pulled them out thinking to replace them with something else that wasn't so aggressive, but I never did.
  Fortunately for me the ground was fairly soft. I was able to pull things easily. I carefully pulled the weeds around the flowers. They had grown so close that I could very easily have pulled out the flowers with the weeds. Soon my lantana flowers were free of weeds. You could see them. I swear I think they stood up straiter finally free from the walls of crabgrass around them.
  I kept moving. I weeded around the lily plants. Fortunately they were tall and were not obscured by the weeds. The nearby wave petunias were not so lucky. I had to be very careful. The best thing to do seemed to be to find part of the plant and move it gently aside. Then I could pull the weeds in that area. After the ground was clean, I could move to another part. Some of the grass was not very long and the ground was more solid. I used a hoe to dig up the ground. Then I gathered the weeds that had been pulled up.
  Crabgrass has an amazing root system. I could see a few times where I tried to pull the grass, but had only torn off the leaves showing above the ground.
  It wasn't long before I had my wheelbarrow full of weeds. I emptied it into the small wooded area behind our home. Slowly you could see the flowers. I found the snapdragons that I had planted. One of them looked pretty sick. I found a tiny patch of small blue flowers that someone had given me as a present. The patch was almost gone because of all the weeds and other plants that had overgrown nearby. I pulled out part of the tiny patch in error trying to get at all the weeds. I think I saved enough  so it will come back next year.
  I tore out the columbine that seemed to be everywhere. I didn't get rid of it completely, that may be a mistake, but I do like columbine. I found a few small maple trees trying to take root. I pulled them out. One nice thing about pulling weeds is the near instant gratification it provides. You can look back and see what you have done. I was able to see all of the petunias and I think they looked relieved. Their multicoloured petals shone in the sun finally visible and unencumbered by the weeds.
  I tried to get close to the climbing rose. I noticed that a maple tree was grown in with the rose. I thought we had removed this tree by cutting it's branches off. Obviously it was stubborn. I left that for C to take care of.
  Behind me the flower garden was now visible. It hadn't looked that good since I had planted it at the end of May. It motivated me to move on the to vegetable side of the garden.
  First task was the remove the spearmint plants that had overgrown. I had been warned about this when I got them, but obviously didn't heed those warnings well. By removing those plants I was able to find two patches of lemon balm I didn't know I had. I was happy to see the lemon balm. I love the smell of the leaves. I just don't know what to do with them.
  I continued pulling weeds around the peppers plants and the basil plant. I found a thyme plant that I had forgotten I planted. Thyme is something I like to plant, but have no idea how to use. I had assumed that it had died. It was still alive. The crabgrass had not won.
   One of the things I had to pull was chives. Many years ago we bought some chives. The chives spread. They are almost impossible to pull out. I had to use the hoe most of the time. I was determined to get those chives out once and for all.  ( I am realistic. I'm sure some of those chives will hide and elude me.)
  At last I had the vast majority of the weeds pulled. There were a few stray ones, but those could be pulled later. I was tired. My back hurt. Toward the end of my project, I hurt so badly that I had to sit on the edge of the garden as opposed to bending over or getting on my hands and knees.  I had pulled three wheelbarrow loads total of weeds. The carpal tunnel in my left hand had flared up.
  I learned a few things from the project. I would need to try harder to catch the weeds before they got out of hand. Weeding is good for the soul. As I was pulling out weeds I imagined that they were thoughts or things I didn't want to carry in my head anymore. I yanked those thoughts out of my head and put them in the wheelbarrow along with the weeds. I also learned that plants do seem to have a way of expressing themselves. I swear the plants in the garden were happy, smiling or saying "It's about time lady". They just looked better for my having taken time to care for them. We have to do that with our human relationships too. 
  I was very satisfied with my work. I went inside to take a well deserved  shower. It was a good days work.