I was on vacation at Barnegat Light last week, and came home on Thursday night because the rental house didn't have air conditioning. Usually I prefer no ac at the beach, but not at 100 degrees. And I kept thinking about my weedy jungle of a garden, which hadn't been tended in weeks and weeks. I hardly gardened at all in July.

The beds are all weeded now, after hours of work, and I'm in love with my garden all over again. I heaped the wheelbarrow full at least 15 times. Hacked back roses and viburnums, ripped blankets of morning glories off of shrubs, tore up huge patches of knotweed, pulled vines down from the house soffits. And my husband and I mowed the whole property on Friday and Saturday, and took several big limbs off of the honeylocust to open up the patio view.

I may make this an annual habit. Spend July guiltlessly slacking off, and then make up for it in one frenzied August weekend.