You Grow Girl™

Yesterday I bought some plants at the farmer's market. I bought a
butter lettuce, a red-leaf lettuce, an arugula, a
sungold cherry tomato, and a brandywine tomato. The woman
who sold me the plants said "You're going to have the first tomatoes
on your block!" I confessed that I had seeds that I hadn't started yet and
I was buying these plants to inspire me. I came home and planted them and
then commenced weeding out more of the dandelions to create more space for
still unplanted Nassella. I saw tons of slugs. As I was
chopping at the dandelion, pulling up leaves and roots I started
fantasizing about how wonderful it would be if my excess of
dandelion could cure my monetary woes. I could be an herbalist
specializing in dandelion remedies. Or, wouldn't it be wonderful if
dandelions were a cure for cancer?

I suspected that my big plot lined with copper might have a couple of
grandfathered slug inhabitants. When I gathered some of the lettuce
today, I found I was right. There were two slugs in the butter
lettuce. I am figuring that I can use the lettuce as a slug
trap. If I check it every day, I may be able to rid myself of the slugs in
that plot without losing the plants.

A buddy of mine gave me some garlic grass and some mint
plants from her garden. Mint is really weedy closer to the coast -
I'm not sure how much it will spread here. I'm trying to figure out how
strategically to plant it. So that stuff is next. My gladiolas did
sprout, and the leaf and grass-clipping path I made in the fall has been a
total success. I have had no weed emergence through that layer of dead
material. I also weeded around the achillea and found a few
surviving shasta daisies. They're pretty small, but other than
that, they don't look too shabby. Maybe they'll make it after all.