So with the broken shoulder, the garden did not get weeded since at least mid-August. By the usual time to prepare for the spring planting (late February, early March in these parts) the weeds had taken over. Of course the weather did not cooperate, so getting days when things weren’t too wet and / or cold to pull weeds, meant that it was the beginning of April before the raised beds were ready. There was a spell of nice weather then and I planted seeds and seedlings.
But then the May Gray came weeks early. It was too cold and wet to weed or do much else. The veggies did nothing while another crop of weeds took over. A large percentage of the seeds failed to germinate. For weeks it seemed the soil was too wet to weed. We even had some late April rain.
It took several passes to get the majority of the weeds out and it will require another pass or two to deal with the ones that escaped. At least now I can see the veggies and was able to plant additional seedlings.
Meanwhile, mice were getting to the strawberries as they ripened. The owls and hawks have not been doing a good job. In the past week I had 15 caught with a live trap and removed them to the far corner of the property. Dealing with the gophers will have to wait a bit. We put hardware cloth at the base of the raised beds to keep them out and have bird netting to protect seedlings from becoming bird food.
Anyway, lots more to do. Borders along paths and fence need weeding and trimming, stone fruit needs to be thinned and general maintenance is needed. Maybe by Memorial day weekend it will look more like a garden than a weed patch.