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Good morning, Diana in Wisconsin and all!

This isn't my lawn, but I sympathize with the meme's caption:

My townhome neighbors and I have been struggling with Japanese stiltgrass all over our backyards.

We all back up to a large forest. This highly invasive Asian weed has been taking over forest floors all over our area of Maryland. It is not eaten by deer, who eat almost everything else we plant, so it is particularly invasive.

It can grow to three feet tall and because of its broad leaves, it quickly takes over lawns, hogging the sunlight and throwing shade on the grass. It sends out trailing roots underground, and also can be blown or tracked onto lawns. It produces prolific seeds in August that may stay in the ground year after year, even after you have mowed, sprayed or plucked the plants on the surface.

It is thought to have arrived in packing material from Asian imports, such as from China. The only solution we have found so far is to spray with the expensive but effective weedicide Acclaim X, which spares the lawn. But we have also had to spray large patches with Roundup and reseed.

I have reseeded many large areas over and over. Ideally the spraying should be done in pre-emergently by late February or the stiltgrass starts to take over just when it's too rainy to spray effectively during the rest of spring—and just try to hit the right temperature day in February when the lawn isn't frozen. Total pain in the butt. Just when one or two neighbors get it under control, another one will not be able to get out there in February, or can't afford the spray and all the rest of the equipment, and wham! It's back again.

Best advice is from your state extension service. We also tried the weedicide Tenacity, which is also costly but is used by golf courses, so it is effective in general, but doesn't knock out the stiltgrass. Acclaim X is the only one we've found whose label actually claims it is effective against Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum).

We had a T-storm night before last & got enough rain to mess up our driveway where they took out the old asphalt Wednesday & the downpour washed gravel. The paving contractor was not happy - he lives about 20 minutes away & didn’t get a drop of rain! He put in some gravel & did some ‘smoothing’ so mom & I can come & go over the weekend.

We’ve had rain almost every night this past week so I don’t need to water the gardens. Today, I will weed & mulch the dahlias & ‘pinch’ the tops as soon as they are in the shade. I have some Calendula seedlings languishing in peat pots. I think I am going to put them out where the dahlia tubers failed to grow. They are small & frail so will cover them with my trash can/row cover protection for a while. I think when they get some decent dirt, they’ll start taking off.

I have already straightened up the shop garage this morning so we can get mom’s car in there & out of the sun. I had it tucked in behind the truck in the barn the last couple of days, but that was temporary. I need the room to get what is in the barn into the lean-to. I am hoping to finish the carpentry part of the project today. Of the 18 boards I brought from the old house, I’ll only have one left.

Also, I washed down the tarp where I had the topsoil piled until I could get it in the raised beds. I need to find a new source for soil to fill my metal beds. Lots of work yet to get the metal beds properly sited & kill the grass, get down cardboard and or weed barrier, etc. The beds need to be about a foot off the barn so I need to figure out how to keep stuff from growing in that spot. Shingles would work, but I am running low & don’t have enough for all the spots where I need them. BTW, my brother got a new roof last year & kept extra shingles to put between his raised beds. He got the idea from me & of course, I got it from you! :-)

This afternoon, before I get too pooped out, I will be making 2 dozen deviled eggs for the big celebration at church tomorrow. I’ll have to get up early enough to give the baked beans 3 hours in the oven. Our Pastor is being officially installed, the Pastor’s husband is a musician & ‘special’ music is planned for half an hour before the service. He found a used organ in fabulous condition (used in a wedding chapel) to replace the 50 year old organ that worked on punch cards, he plays the harp at a professional level & he has a Celtic band ... I can’t wait to see what he has planned. Mom & I will also officially be recognized as members of the church, too - my dad would be so surprised (& happy). Lots to be thankful for & we are so blessed (especially after last weekend) :-)

Turns out this Neanderthal isn’t such a loser after all, as far as tomatoes are concerned. Threw a few Early Girl seeds on the ground in the spring, just to see what would happen. The other varieties of tomatoes, which are in large containers. came right up and have started making tomatoes. But Early Girl? Nah. “Late Girl” was more like it.

However, today I saw what looked like a TREE. Early Girl sure is making up for lost time. Lots of blossoms but no fruits yet. Confident that will come, though. 😀

I survived the long weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway. In spite of ridiculous amounts of rainfall at the track Thu/Fri/Sat they were able to run the complete program all three nights. Packed the camper in a deluge Sunday morning and drove the first 50-ish miles home at 40-45mph due to low visibility and crazy amounts of water on the highway. That was super stressful but we made it home intact. Can’t say the same for the two vehicles that collided head-on just south of Lake Ozark on US 54 not long before we came through. What a mess that was.

Poured 1.1” out of my rain gauge after we got home. I need to pull weeds but I expect it will be too muddy in the garden to do that today. It was soggy out there yesterday and it’s looking like there’s more coming this afternoon.

My sweet corn planting is yet to sprout. Probably because it was so stinking hot for the first five days after I put it in. If this rain doesn’t bring it up I’m going to punt.

The squash, cukes, tomatoes, and peppers are rocking it now. Squash and cuke vines doubled in size since we left to go racing on Thursday. There are fist-size green tomatoes on several of the plants so it won’t be long until BLT time.

It looks like I’ve finally gotten my rhubarb planting established. Four of the Canada Red plants are waist high, the other two aren’t far behind. The Crimson Red plants aren’t taking off quite as fast. Three of the four look good, but the fourth one is still in doubt. I could probably get away with taking a stalk or two from each of the Canada Red plants now, but I’m going to leave them alone so they can further develop their roots before winter comes.