Bad Gardener!!

I can hear my mother now. "Why don't you pick up after yourself? You're always leaving your toys laying all over the place it's no wonder you lose keep losing stuff!" It snowed yesterday. One of the things I love about Chicago is that it always seems to snow on Thanksgiving. I left these outside after cutting back my shrub roses the other night. At this rate, all my tools will be rusty next year. Mom is right - I should be more careful with my toys.

GB gave me some of her excess mulch and I almost had enough for every rose to have it's own bag. This was Monday evening and I was working feverishly to cut back the roses and get the mulch on them before it started raining.

I don't know if I did it right but I cut back the roses and piled the mulch around the bottom. I thought I might have done this too early but today it's freezing outside!
Regarding dirt:
I went to buy dirt today and was amazed that Menards had already gotten rid of their topsoil. No more till spring. Home Depot had it but it was frozen solid! I got discouraged and went home. I'll just suck it up and have it delivered.

I still have bulbs to plant! I'm thinking big patio pots at this point.

How Do YOU De-Weed a Mulched Garden?

I've gotten myself in one fine mess this time. I read some article on organicgardening.com that was going on about how magical mulch is and the author stated that, instead of pulling weeds, you can simply throw mulch right on top of them to get rid of them. I think I took this too far. Instead of giving my 3 non-rose gardens a good hoeing before mulching, I just dumped the woodchips right on top. The weeds are already taking over. It's mostly this bastard morning glory that grows in every nook and cranny of our property (including the grass). I don't really mind it in the grass, it's kind of interesting and unexpected, but it knows no boundaries.

So, what do I do now? I do not see how it is physically possible to pull all these weeds with the mulch sitting on top. The only 2 things I can think of is to 1. rake off all the wood chips, weed, and replace the woodchips or 2. spray them with something that will kill them. Although option 2 suits my laziness way more, I would prefer not to use harsh chemicals which limits me somewhat. Plus, I really don't want to put my other plants in danger. Below is the other stuff that's taking over. The funny thing about this is that I didn't even notice this stuff until I dug up my gardens. It's like it was just waiting for me to get this just like I wanted to come along and ruin it all.

What would you do?

If it Weren't For Free Stuff, I'd Have No Stuff At All

I tell ya, when you are on a tight budget and you put your mind to it, you can really do a lot for nothing. Take a look at this AWESOME table and 4 chairs I found at http://www.freecycle.org/ Thank you freecycle lady!! I absolutely LOVE this thing. Mainly because I've never seen one like it and it's very whimsical. It needs some TLC - it's pretty rusty. I tried removing the rust with this wire drill attachment they sold me at HD but at this rate I'll be looking for a walker on freecycle before this table is finished. Anybody have any ideas for quick rust removal? After that I'll paint it and it'll look good as new. I was thinking black paint but I'm tempted to paint it purple or something weird like that. I'm taking suggestions for paint color too...

In other free news, I have been back to Mr. and Mrs. Woodchip's house several more times and I think I have enough woodchips for all beds except the roses. There still seems to be quite a bit left so I think I'll go ahead and try for a few more loads over the next few days. I really can't believe how the plants in the foundation bed perked up after adding the woodchips! I love the woodchip mulch so far, and I love that it's good for the earth.

In still more free news, there is presently an old window out in my alley that my neighbor left for the trash and I'm desperately trying to think of a way to use this in my garden. It's about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Anybody have any ideas?

Devine Garden Intervention

I've been complaining for 2 months about how much I need mulch for my low-budget garden. First I thought I'll just leave it mulchless until next year but the dirt just looked awful so I decided to try straw. At 5.99 per bale It was very affordable but it wasn't nearly enough and it really brought out the brown in my dead grass. Then I found dark brown mulch on sale for 1.99 per 2 cubic foot bag. I bought 10 bags and that was barely enough to cover the garage bed. I can't win!

Well, today I found free wood chips on Craiglist and the best part is they were right by my house!! Thank you Craigslist Woodchip Couple!! I loaded up my car with 4 trash cans and 2 storage bins and headed over. I could not believe that pile of wood chips - IT WAS HUGE! Mr. Woodchip pointed out that it was starting to compost and I could actually see the steam coming off the pile. I made a second trip over to their house to reload. I really wish I'd had on my heart rate monitor so I could have seen how many calories I burned. I was a shoveling fool! For one thing I wanted to get the hell out of the heat but Mr. and Mrs. Woodchip were also trying to enjoy their Sunday outside and I felt like I was being very intrusive.

So after I refilled and loaded all my cans and storage bins I climbed in my car, hands shaking, face red as my Sweet 100s and I was thinking I THINK I MIGHT FAINT! I pulled out of their alley and at the very first stop sign this lady comes running toward my car screaming and waving something. I'm thinking WTH, I don't need this right now! "FREE WATER, FREE BOTTLED WATER, WOULD YOU LIKE A BOTTLE OF COLD WATER???!!!". I am not making this up! She gave me a bottle of water and God Blessed Me. That lady may have saved my life! And Mr. and Mrs. Woodchip probably saved my garden. Here are a couple of shots of the foundation and fence bed after woodchips.

The garden Gods were good to me on Sunday.