More hard work…

Last Monday, I morphed into Popeye, my dad, and an old Italian man from Elizabeth, NJ.

Why?? Let me explain. Popeye was a cartoon character that I loved watching growing up.

We’ve been eating spinach every day, just like Popeye, ours is fresh and his was canned. Eww.

I could feel my anger slowly simmering Monday morning as I watered my vegetable garden and flowers.

Our property fence line along our driveway is the only part of our property that I hate. Hate is a powerful word.

Finally, I said to myself, “I’ve had all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!” Cue the Popeye music.

I decided I no longer wanted that fence along our drive to be an eyesore, so I put on my thinking cap.

I stood there in my terrace garden and the idea popped into my head. 💡

I figured out what I could do with very little money and a lot of hard work. I came inside and looked on my phone for idea.

I searched for fast-growing flowers and vines to grow on the white fence to create a privacy wall.

I had an idea of what could work, but it turned out that the one I chose was a very expensive idea with slow growth.

After visiting a local farmer, I went to Clear Brook Farms and had a very nice employee help me.

I showed her a photo of what I wanted to cover, and the bigger problem was on the other side of the fence.

Weeds grew with a vengeance under the fence and onto our driveway. This was only part of bigger issues.

The lawn on the other side of our fence was cut or I should say hayed for the first time on Saturday this year. It grew to well over 2 feet.

Not only did the high grass house millions of bugs, but it was unsightly. It’s been this way every summer for many years.

Marty regularly sweeps our driveway so that when we walk barefoot, we won’t step on sharp rocks or stray grass clippings that could stick to our feet and get into the pool.

After the haying on the other side of our fence on Saturday, I saw that our driveway was loaded with hay clippings—I mean grass. This made me see red.

This is when I may have figured out what all the old Italian men were doing when they watered their driveways every summer.

Maybe they were removing grass clippings? It was always after dinner when they did this and were possibly killing two birds with one stone.

I can see them still in their trousers with a white tank under shirt on and a cigar hanging out of their mouth.

Or, they may have been watering the driveway to escape from their wives, or for no reason at all!

I got our hose and cleaned the driveway the Italian way. It was so hot outside on Monday that sweeping was not an option, and it went quickly.

My helper at Clear Brook Farm suggested growing morning glories on the fence. She told me they grow fast and would cover the fence in no time.

They were also only $5.25 for four packs, so I got five. I chose dark purple, white, and lavender ones.

Then, the hard work began. I started digging out the weeds on our side, then under the fence, ensuring I got the roots.

I was creating a trough like when I was doing the edging projects.

Let me tell you something about those weeds that have always weed whacked by Marty, I’ve never seen or tried to deal with weeds like these.

They were nasty and had sharp things that stung my fingers. Some orange weeds burned my fingers like acid. That’s when I only used a shovel and a rake.

I had to stop twice on Monday and three times on Tuesday when I felt overheated and jumped into the pool with my clothes on.

This was me acting out one of my favorite memories of my dad.

He worked in a machine shop and came home from work one hot day and threw himself over the side of our pool.

I squealed with laughter and jumped into the pool too. I was about 10 years old.

He had on his blue work clothes and safety shoes which he regretted in retrospect. His wallet was in his pants pocket.

It took me two days to get rid of the stubborn weeds. Bug bites cover my body, and they still itch like crazy.

Finally, I got to the fun part; planting the flowers! I staggered the dark and light morning glories along the fence.

Two bags of mulch were needed to run the length of the driveway, which is crucial for keeping the plants moist.

After three days, the plants have taken and are growing! The vines have found the fence themselves already.

Morning glories can become aggressive and will reseed themselves if you let them, and I will allow them to do both.

Creating a wall of flowers will be lovely, and I can enjoy that view soon.