Knuckling Down in the Garden

This weekend, I started a job I didn't really intend to do in the garden. I've already written about how I haven't devoted the normal amount of time to my garden this year. The beds still need major weeding. Instead of doing that, I started pulling out the weeds in between the stone pavers on the walkway and patio in our backyard.

This is not a small task, as the pathway leads from the front gate into the backyard and the patio itself is wide. As I was doing it, I started thinking that maybe I was doing things backwards. Shouldn't I get the flower beds looking beautiful and then worry about the pavers if I had time? It sort of felt like dusting before you've picked up things around the house. Oh well--once I had started, I felt committed. It took hours but I don't regret it at all (except for some aching muscles).  It's like I've put a nice clean, mat around a busy painting. The whole garden looks better and I can breathe more easily when I'm walking through it.

I've bought fancy tools in the past to deal with weeding between pavers, but I always come back to my tried and true tools for the job--a worn screw driver and an old kitchen paring knife. The screw driver is useful for gently rocking the pavers apart to extract stubborn roots.  The paring knife slides down easily between the pavers to slice and remove weeds and to neatly edge the lawn where it meets the pathway and patio. And then there are those other indispensable tools--my hands. My nails and knuckles are looking a little worse for wear today (I'm terrible about not wearing gloves when I should) but they can be proud of a job well done.