Great garden weather and all. But it also means great weed weather.
When the phone repairman was here, he briefly considered digging a trench to put in a whole new underground line all the way to the house and looked down a long bed between the back fence and a row of espalier where the line would have to go.
“Is that . . . something . . . or is it just . . . ” he wondered.
Something, I assured him, nothing I want dug up, in spite of appearances. Subsumed by this jungle are two blueberry bushes, a seaberry bush, and three juneberry bushes.
Time to weed and mulch. It just ALL GROWS SO FAST.
Poke weed.
Garlic Mustard. Hate this one especially. I keep a separate bag in which to dispose this because the chickens won’t eat it and the seeds will continue to be spread if I don’t keep it out of the mulch.
Smartweed. If you see this and think the little pink seedheads are pretty, don’t be fooled. Never let it go to seed. It will take over your whole universe.
Trumpet vines and sawbriers with their unstoppable subterranean root systems. Need a shovel for these two ruffians.
Ragweed. Ugh.
I work in the garden everyday, but it tends to be unfocused job-hopping. I see a weed, I might pull it, I might give it an evil look and a promise to BE BAAACK, but every year around this time, my best intentions have failed.
It’s gone way beyond mere pulling here and there and evolved into Tom Sawyerian fantasies of tricking gangs of naive neighborhood children into believing how fun it is to weed and mulch. (My own children already know better).
I have a new plan, and it’s a whole two days old and I haven’t fallen off the wagon yet.
Don’t laugh.
I plan to weed an entire row of the garden every morning before it gets too blazin hot and then call it a day until the next morning.
Until it’s all done.
And I have to start over at the beginning.
I will.
I think I can, I think I can.
Yesterday I weeded the center path. Here’s the after. I wasn’t thinking about blogging and didn’t take a before picture first, but it was impassable and the bricks had stuff growing between most of them.
It may not look like much, but I was so proud of it I kept thinking up excuses to walk by and stare.
This morning I tackled this row, bordered by garlic just getting ready to dig, renegade-but-delicious strawberry plants, and a horde of volunteer tulsi.
Before:
After:
The after may not look great, but I feel so much better knowing all that smartweed and garlic mustard is routed and I can see down the path again. It’ll look better with a layer of mulch and after I transplant those wayward strawberries in the fall.
Tomorrow is another day . . . to weed.
I hear you!! We have had so much rain in east Texas – great for the plants AND the weeds!!! I am covering weeds and grass with cardboard from boxes until I have time to “do it right”! I have 18 days for vacation starting today so maybe I can make some headway. Your weeding looks great. Thanks for id – Ing the weeds – we share most of them:) blessings????????????????
What a good plan! Raining here again today in Maryland. I haven’t mulched my flowerbeds yet, and it seems every other day it rains and more weeds pop up.
I feel your pain. I have a flower bed that is about 16 ft. long and 6 ft. wide. It has not been cleaned out in 5 years. My grandmother’s banana plants and day lilies have not given up. Since I retired Jan. 1, 2016, my goal was to either clean this or dig the flowers and not have a flower bed. It was covered with wild berry vines. Some were 10 ft. long. I started a few months ago, 30 minutes at a time. I am half way there! I am mulching as I go. And giving some day lilies to a friend. There are also a few of grandmother’s iris’s somewhere among all the vines. I would love to work longer but due to 4 back surgeries, 30 minutes is my limit. Our neighbor gave me 4 tracks from his bulldozer to make raised beds. They are great! Sybil- I live in east Texas, too. Have a wonderful day!
Somehow when you turn your back just for a moment….weeds multiply exponentially! I hear your pain.
Good work on the weeding! Your hard work is paying off! Many of those weeds are familiar here in my state! My front flower garden has been taken over by those Dollar weeds! I used to put newspaper down and cover with pinestraw but bug man said newspaper should not be near the house because of attracting termites. Wish I had known this before putting all that newspaper down! My vegetable garden is manageable as far as weeding since it is a raised bed and the nearby ivy can’t take over. I did spot the start of some Dollar weeds starting up! yikes! Happy gardening everyone! p.s I think some might consider the trumpet vine a plant..seems I saw it on sale at the Botanical Gardens Plant sale this year. Could this be the same plant?
That’s the vine with the white flowers that some call morning glory. I call it bindweed and I hate, hate, hate it. It loves to snake around other plants and squeeze them to death.
One of the reasons I love this blog is because it is written by authentic, honest folks. I have an area I call my “garden”. It is a glorified weed bed with a few flowers underneath. Every vegetable I have planted in every form (seed or plants) has died. Weeds flourish!
We just got back from a week out of town. Crabgrass and the bane of my gardening existence, Bermuda grass, are attempting a stealthy invasion of our 20 raised beds. Thankfully, I have awesome helpers, in the form of 3 sons and a husband. A few days of everyone doing a piece of it and all will be under our control again.
Hi,
We are all going the same path like you in kitchener, ontario. My garden is giving me hard times. Every morning first thing I do go in the garden fight with weeds as much as I can take them out. All my garlic bed is having the same problem. I trying my best but I would win the batter for sure? I doubt?
Thanks I understand your frustrations but just keep going until the season will get over and we will back to winter .
almas
I just came to the same conclusion in my own garden. Here in New Hampshire we go from snow season, to mud season to weed season. Every year I promise myself that I will stay on top of the weeds with just a little weeding every day, but……..Maybe next year.
linda harris–Bulldozer tracks! I bet that looks very cool. Keep going, I’ve been sitting on an overturned recycle bucket to help with the strain from bending, and also using those kneeling pads helps, too. And knowing your limits, as you say. Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful day as well.
Sallie–It’s amazing how ignoring them doesn’t make them go away.
Cindy–Thanks, Cindy! Slowly, slowly, it’s getting there. Yes, trumpet vine is one of those overly enthusiastic ornamentals that can take over if you let them. And how.
Anita–I have that in my blackberry patch. It’s a real challenge.
Helen–Yes, I think most of us have weeds, somewhere, not to get too philosophical about it, ha! Thank you, and best of luck with your “weed bed.”
Kathleen–What a blessing!
almas.nathoo–Thank you. Slow and steady wins the race, I believe. I’m not ready for winter!
Michelle Elbert–Ha! Fortunately, the climate is less severe here. I should quit complaining, but the weeds are just so overwhelming right now. I’m starting to make a dent. A little tiny dent, but a dent nonetheless. Don’t give up!
hahaha … you remind me of myself, though now I have a tiny garden compared to yours. What you call sawbrier looks suspiciously like a farm weed that’s growing in my city garden (cause, this used to be farmland) and locally is known as “bindweed”. There is no stopping this stuff.
I’ve also got a trumpet vine … popping up everywhere. Love the main one, but I don’t want it growing up through my deck.
You gave me a nice giggle today and reminded me how glad I am that my weeding is currently done (took a week though, for a very small space).
Wish you luck in your new plan 🙂