Insulted
This weekend I was feeling pretty good. For the second week I appeared in a Post publication. And though my name didn't appear as I normally have it( with the first initial), was pleased to see the NCPC borders holding.But then, later that day, a man knocked on my door. I answered and what he said to me, left me hurt and insulted.
Man: Hello Miss, I do yards 'round here and I can get up those weeds you have in your yard.
Me: [with a confused look] Huh?
Man: [pointing to one of several tufts of greenery] Those weeds there.
Me: That's my peppermint. It's supposed to be there.
Man: No, those weeds there. I can remove those.
[We both walk over to where he's pointing]
Man: That there.
Me: [pointing with my foot] That's peppermint. That's thyme. They're not weeds!
He called my yard weedy.
Great Jimmeny Christmas, if a yard doesn't fit the American norm, it has to be attacked? Is fescue the only allowable thing? Water sucking grass? I have an edible front yard where the peppermint, the spearmint, the Greek oregano, and several varieties to thyme run free. And when I gaze upon it's green lushness, I am glad. I was going to cut back on the peppermint, but a neighbor mentioned how she liked the smell of the peppermint in the morning.
Weeds? Bah. Yeah, I know some of those yard work jobs are half work, half charity (depending on the worker). But if you can't tell a weed from herb then I don't want you no where near my yard.
Labels: gardening
posted by Mari @ 4.5.08
8 Comments:
I was just telling my neighbor all about your edible front yard, he was very interested as he is roof gardening all sorts of vegetables in hay bales & composting. (speaking of which, where would one buy worms?)
Well locally you can buy worms at the boat house on the C&O canal. I've also bought worms through Ebay.
I got worms to spare. Those things are all in my compost that I can't separate them out.
Also they seem to cluster all under errant wet plastic bags sitting in the back yard I've failed to pick up as well as in piles of wet leaves.
i hope someone doesn't come by and "clean up" your front yard and then knock on the door asking for payment for it...
congrats on the picture and story in the paper, and i'm glad you're happy with the map. the cartographer who did it asked me for opinions on what should be mapped, and i told him to go with the school boundaries. i mentioned that your blog was the place where i saw that first.
it sounds like you have an 'english garden', but most of the folks roaming the neighborhood aren't english enough to know that. :o)
I was so glad to see you in the Post.
Great topic. My neighbor Joe and random passersby are forever telling me I should get rid of the weeds in my front yard. Or they'll tell me that I should uproot and till the entire area. It is like walking down the street and having a stranger say my shoes are the wrong color for the suit. It seems to be a feature of poor neighborhoods that you can openly insult someone's garden and not expect a harsh reply.
I was thinking of planting some peppermint in my back yard. How hardy is it? Do you have to plant each year or is it a perennial?
Bog- well, I figured the guy was ignorant of a different style of gardening. And the problem with being different is you have to constantly defend what you do, which gets tiring. The best thing one can to is share with your neighbors your plans for your yard, when you have the energy to do so.
virrey, good gravy peppermint grows like crazy and is a perennial. Once you get it in the ground there is very little you can do to control it. Mint I put near the fence traveled over into the next yard. The peppermint I bought years ago has flourished and I give away portions of it to anyone who asks.
re Virrey said: "I was thinking of planting some peppermint in my back yard. How hardy is it? Do you have to plant each year or is it a perennial?"
I have some kind of mint in the garden that is definitely perennial. I love it - but I have to admit that it spreads like a weed!
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