Hi, Pam! "..do any weeds dare grow in your garden?" Well, they do. Sometimes. :-) "You must spend hours keeping them so well-groomed." Not really. I found that it will be easier to prevent them start growing than fight them later. 1. All new beds/ freshly dug areas receive generous dose of 'Preen' if bare grounds ment to be left for longer than a day or two. 2. Mulch is all year around, 3-4" of cedar mulch for EVERY new or freshly disturbed areas at any time of the year and 1-2" every year in early spring (late March-early April the latest). Though cedar mulch cost almost twice as much as hardwood one, it doesn't decomposes as fast and by the end of the season I still have at least 1-2" thick layer of it in all beds. If you also consider the fact that cost/time of spreading of good mulch vs the cheap one is the same, you may figure out that in a long run, difference in cost is not that significant. My garden takes about 17-18 yards every year if no major area had been started, but I always order 20 yards and keep the leftover in pile just in case I'd move plants or plant something new. By the end of the season it all gone somehow.:-) Because of such treatment, I rarely have a self-seeded 'bonus' garden plants, but I don't have a weeds either. I could live with such trade-off. 3. 'Wild' areas that immediately adjacent to the property might be threated by 'Roundup' or equivalent few times a year and I never refuse myself a pleasure of ocassional pulling/digging of the most stubborn offenders. My major enemies in a garden are Norway maples and wild onions. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing battle, but nothing I could do about. " Your gardens are meticulous!!" Thanks for the kind words, but you have to see my garage in a summer...LOL.

I wear ankle rubber shoes that have a zipper up the front. the current favorites come from SoftMoc. I like with the zipper the shoe doesn't slosh around on my feet. The soles are thick with a good tread. I have worn work shoes with steel toes and while you do get used to them, not much we do doesn't require them and they are heavy which I do not want any longer. I wear these shoe-like rubber boots year long and for all activities i e walking the dog. My daughter in Toronto wears hers all the time as they are a great walking shoe in the support department.

I wear hand-me-down adidas sport sandals, the kind your kids wear after playing soccer. They are about an inch thick rubber with a wide strap across. They are easy to kick off and dry fast whenever I get them wet. I can also take them off and use them as knee pads when checking a plant. Flip flops rub sores on my feet whenever they get wet. So I use them to go into the house, to avoid tracking dirt from my dirty feet. I use a brush to clean my toes and my heels. I always wear a hat ever since my hair dresser got on to me about my dry ends. She said that the older you get the less oil in your hair and the sun can really dry it out. So my big big big stupid hat is by the door to remind me to take care of my hair and my face.

Oldgardener, I have worn closed toed shoes for years, and I found these at a great clearance price so I went for them. I would love to wear them to work which is why I asked. Amyfiddler, Like I said in the original post, we ARE allowed to wear peep toes, but they have to be worn with nylons or tights. Trust me, some of the rules are pretty contradictory, but I didn't write them so I just have to follow them! AmyGibby, why would I post the question if I didn't want some feedback? And I DID try the dancers tights and they work just fine.