Fighting Mice and Black Flies

Some friends of mine go out nursery-hopping every Mother's Day. This year I was asked if I would like to join them and of course, I went. We hit a couple of greenhouses (no, smart alecks, we didn't actually hit them, we drove over and browsed the plants) and everyone got at least a couple of plants.

Since my tomato and pepper seeds did so dismaly, I got a couple of six-packs of sweet-peppers, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. I was looking for paste-type tomatoes, but couldn't find any. I'll have to look elsewhere for those. I also picked up some creeping thyme, to plant around stepping stones, and a couple of perinnials (don't remember exactly what right now). The perinnials and thyme will get planted sometime this week. The peppers and tomatoes are under grow lights in the house (not taking chances that Mister Mouse will find them), and can't be planted until June 1, the frost-free date.

I believe I know how to foil Mister Mouse so that I can eventually put the vegetables in the greenhouse; I should be able to move the table toward the center - away from any ledges that the mouse can use to get on the table. It will just be a pain in the butt since there is all kinds of stuff being stored under the table. The legs of the table are also very rickety so I will have to be very careful during the move.

The Wonderful Spouse had to give the lawn its first mowing of the season yesterday. He did that while I was planting the strawberry plants, and I must say that his results look a lot better than mine do. It will be interesting to see what kind of attrition rate I achieve with the planting (a dubious achievment at best!). After WS mowed, we set to raking the lawn. Unlike most people, we rake the lawn to get the smaller (relatively speaking) stones out - not to pick up grass clippings. It keeps us off the streets at night anyway!