Quality Gardening Time

Do I hear a hollow laugh? Yes, it's coming from me. Before we went away, this used to be a flowerbed.

 Oh Lor'.  I wish I knew what those Western New York weeds are on. As winter recedes, usually around mid-May, there's suddenly a phenomenal growth-spurt and if you don't get on top of it right away, or happen not to be around, before you know what's happened, you're fighting your way through a choking jungle, with grass a mile high everywhere but in the lawn.
  I read somewhere that you can now rent a small herd of goats for a few days. They come complete with a portable fence and all you need to do is give 'em water. I suggested this to hubby but this time the hollow laugh came from him.
The pilfered periwinkle is flourishing though and spreading nicely from the shoots I surreptitiously grab from the roadside as I'm walking up the hill.

And the creeping phlox is holding its own, though the rest of the rock garden is a train-wreck, as the Americans say. I think I'll just dump some more rocks on top of the worst offenders and let nature take its course.