I have said before that prior to this year and my surgery for melanoma, I was a raker. I would carefully rake out the beds around my perennials and I would rake leaves and pine needles off the tops of my shrubs. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t leave leaves in the beds–it means I would try to keep the Spoiler from getting into my beds with his hand blower (or worse yet, his blower on wheels!) and doing damage to my plants and my gardens.
Well, of course, this year, all bets are off. So a few weeks ago, I started to notice something odd accumulating on our screened in porch. At first, I couldn’t tell what it was. Here is a photo.
Once I realized that it was all over everything–walls, plants, doors, furniture, as well as the floor, I knew immediately what it was. Some of my more astute readers have probably figured it out already.
And once I saw this–my exposed bulbs smiling up at me despite the more than 2 inches of soil that had previously been covering them–all my suspicions were confirmed.
Needless to say, not only is the Spoiler denying that any of this is possible, but he said that the place where my bulbs are planted is a “leaf trap” and that he really needs to “blast” at it with the leaf blower to get the leaves out of there.
Blast at is with the leaf blower? When a few gentle passes with a rake will accomplish the same thing and not spray soil–and who knows what else–all over our porch?! Is he kidding?!
Now you know where the name the “Spoiler” comes from!
Gardendaze 