Tree Seedlings and Wood Chips

Today I tackled a long put off chore - digging up tree seedlings. Should have pulled them when they were little, of course, but it's not too bad if you use a sharp spade right at the base of the seedling. A sharp kick cuts them off below the soil line. All our trees are prolific seeders - pecans, oaks, hackberries and chinese pistachios. Hackberries are the worst about sprouting everywhere, but the birds like them so I do too. Come to think of it, that's why they sprout everywhere!

Its very humid, 80 degrees and not a breath of a breeze today! Everyone has to move two wheelbarrow loads of woodchips today. So far I am the only one to have done it. The woodchips are a blessing, but it's a lot of work moving them by hand out of the alley. I wish we had a front end loader, but that would be a funny thing to have parked in the driveway the rest of the year!

The garden seems OK after the hail storm. Even the lettuce isn't completely ruined. The pill bugs are still prolific, but they have not devoured the lettuce like I thought they would. My usual method to deal with pill bugs is to sink small plastic drinking cups down in the soil with the tops just at soil level. I fill them with water and the bugs fall in and drown. This usually works really well, but it is so wet and humid out side right now that the bugs are ignoring the water. It will work better as it gets dryer.