I have been flat out in the garden lately. Mostly I have been pulling out the last of the summer crops, sowing cover crops and generally tidying up. It is starting to look respectable again, although it could do with a really good mow because that grass won’t stop growing.
However, I hit a bit of a problem yesterday in my efforts to whip the garden into shape in time for an impending visit from a group of enthusiastic gardeners, prepared to come and see my garden when it is long past the heyday of summer gorgeousness. I got stung on the hand by a wasp hanging out on a bag I wanted to move. The wasps have been really bad this season and it is the second time I have been stung this year.
The last time I was stung I was mowing… again. It feels like I’m always mowing. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the cathartic nature of mowing the grass and the reward of seeing the garden in good order once I’m done. But it just won’t stop growing and with a garden the size of mine it can sometimes take forever!
I must have run over a nest because a wasp flew up and stung my hand. I am very proud of myself because I didn’t swear, but I did run away screaming and left the mower running. Once I’d treated the sting, I began to worry about the still running mower and wondered if I should just let it run out of fuel, when Hubby the Un-Gardener bravely risked life and limb and turned it off. This is as close as Hubby the Un-Gardener has got to the mower in my garden in years – not since the tragic cucumber incident of 2009.
So today I have felt a bit off with a swollen, itchy, poor wasp stung hand and something unusual happened – I didn’t really feel like gardening. Even with a pressing deadline of a garden visit just days away. I pushed through and sowed some sweet peas that will promise incredible fragrance come early summer, but that was all I could muster.
This means in the next few days it will be all hands to the pump and the whole family will be out there following my direction and making things look good. But for the first time in ages Hubby the Un-Gardener will be in charge of the mowing. I’m a little nervous, but there aren’t really any trailing plants he can run over and I doubt he can do much harm.
Come again soon – the swelling should go down soon.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
Why does grass grow so fast? Sometimes I’m envious of pasture animals. Grass is determined and invasive and fast-growing. Our food takes tender care and management.
I know. And the weeds are the same. I have had a lot of nightshade in the garden this season as a weed and even though it is a distant relative of tomatoes and potatoes do you think it was bothered by the blight that ravished everything else? Nup! At least it is easy enough to pull out.
Cheers Sarah : o)
Ha! Selective seed sowing by nature.
A banana peel applied to a wasp sting within minutes of being stung will neutralize the sting. Leave the peel on for a bit until the site no longer bothers you. I learned this when I was painting our house and bent over to load my brush in the paint pail and unbeknownst to me a hornet had found its way under my shirt. Got my tummy big time. Red, swollen and feverish site. I left the peel on for a few hours because I fell asleep. Turned my skin a bit black, 😕, but that was temporary. Baking soda paste works for bee stings and apple cider vinegar for wasp, hornets.
Thanks for that tip. I would never have thought to use banana to ease the pain. I’ll have to remember that for next time. Although I’m hoping there won’t be a next time! : o)
Ooh mean wasps, hope your wound heals quickly and your garden visitors have a lovely visit.
But please, please tell us about the tragic cucumber incident of 2009…… 😉
Thanks for your concern. Things feel a lot better today.
The last time I let Hubby the Un-Gardener mow – he plowed on passed my overhanging cucumber plants – with nearly ripe fruit hanging there and he mowed them all down. I was really devastated and banned him from mowing ever again!
Cheers Sarah : o)
So sorry you got stung, Sarah. We have really mean paper wasps here and have managed to rip out most of the bushes near the house where they like to nest. If Robert gets stung he swells up to 3 times normal size and suffers for 2 weeks. Me, I get a sore spot that is fine the next day. Don’t let Hubby get stung. He might be the same as Robert. 🌺
Hi Leslie. Getting stung isn’t something you know how you’ll react until after you get stung. As it would happen Tom got stung last weekend and nothing happened at all. I on the other hand swell up and am a bit miserable for several days.
Cheers Sarah : o) x
Lovely update thank you for sharing have a blessed day
Thanks Linda. Have a fab day.
Cheers Sarah : o)
I can’t believe how warm it still is, my plants are having a second flowering. The weather boffins are predicting a warm winter, but I have a hunch it might be going to get plenty cold – we have had endless trouble with mice moving into the house this year. This often means that it is going to be a cold winter. I have found that the mice are right more often than the weather boffins!
It is starting to turn now, but I saw a photo the other day where someones daffodils had bloomed! The weather is completely upside down.
I hope your mice a right – I want the cold to knock a few pests and diseases on the head.
Cheers Sarah : o)