So last year, I cleared out the back planter box, but never planted a garden. It was a ton of work to get the planter box cleared out of the lilac bushes that were in it. I planted one lavender bush and that was it.
My lavender was doing good, but then this large weed started growing next to it. You see, there is a drip system and so the weed’s root grew into where the water, and my lavender plant was. I think it has killed my lavender as it feels kind of dry like, though I can’t be sure. I don’t know what I can do to save my lavender.
I dug the weed out. It was a monster. Look at that root!! It took tons of digging and then all of my strength and weight to pull that honk’n thing out.
Last summer, the ground got hard and weeds took over the back planter box.
It is now time to start working in the box and getting rid of the weeds. I don’t want to do weed control stuff as I am hoping to plant vegetables in there and I don’t want chemicals in my vegetables. So, I think I am going to have to do this the old fashioned way, pull the weeds.
It is bad, because the weeds are those noxious kind that grip with all of their might. They are like that choke grass stuff. I don’t know what kind of weeds they are, but they suck. The back neighbors put in a new fence and burried all of the weeds in dirt. So, while my planter box looks like it is weed free, it is misleading. Under the inch of dirt are weeds, mean, nasty weeds.
I think my best bet is to dig them out section by section. Of course, if I rented a rota-tiller, that would probably be the best, but I don’t think that is in my budget.
In the corner of my planter box is the unknown tree. Last year I thought it was a bush, but this year, I think it is a tree. 
It would be nice if I could identify this tree. On Thanksgiving, Madeleine at the berries off of this tree and we had to take her to the ER. She didn’t get sick, but I was paranoid and wanted to be safe, in case she had a sudden reaction.
If you can identify this tree, let me know. I would love to know more about this tree.
Tony and I have been tempted to chop the thing down and we have the landlord’s approval. It is just too inviting for kids to eat the berries. However, it is the only shade in our backyard, so we decided to keep. Plus, we won’t always be living here. I keep asking Tony to cut down the berry sections. You know how that is…I will probably be out there next weekend doing it.
After all, I had asked him to pull out the big honk’n weed that was choking my lavender last fall. I think if he would have done it then my lavender wouldn’t have died.
Oh, and Lyndy…your plant isn’t doing so well, either. It had a really hard time when we had that cold snap and almost all of the leaves have died. I am going to cut off the old stuff and the branches to see if that will save it. That poor plant has had the worst shock this last year. First it went from bay area weather to the valley weather. Then, it went through the major heat wave last summer and almost died. Now it went through a major cold spell and almost died…well see if it is a survivor.
I will leave you with some photos I took of the flowers Tony gave me for Valentine’s day. These were taken over the weekend, so they were just on the verge of starting to die.
The vase he bought me for Christmas many years ago when we both had a very small budget to spend.
