I finally got a chance to hand-till my annual beds yesterday. We got 3.25 inches in less than 24 hours last week and it came down in sheets. The soil got pounded down and baked in the sun to a nice crusty finish that I’m sure felt suffocating to my young plants.
I wanted to get out there a day or two after it rained, but the chiggers have been so bad this year that for the last couple of weeks I would only run outside to chase rabbits or prop up a floppy plant. And when I say “run” I mean I never slowed down. Chiggers probably have their own website dedicated to how much they love me. The feeling is not mutual and I was starting to lose sleep at night with all that scratching. Even saying or typing the word “chigger” makes me itchy.
Thankfully they appear to be out of their parasitic stage now, so it’s once again safe to go outside. Well, that’s if I don’t mind the giant cloud of mosquitoes that just hatched…