Everyone who has ever tried to grow even the smallest garden has had to deal with them, the dreaded menace known as weeds. The little green devils shoot up seemingly overnight and like a magician seem to vanish themselves while you are trying to pull them, only for you to spot another as you walk away.
Recently my wife and I went on a cruise to Alaska. We experienced the highs of seeing Bald Eagles soaring over majestic glacier capped mountains, Brown Bears with cubs frolicking in the rivers, and even Orcas jumping out of the water! After spending two weeks with our cameras constantly sounding like the Paparazzi at a Royals Convention we came home to, you guessed it, a garden full of weeds!
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t unexpected after all, we went in June the height of weed growing season. However, what a let down from the thrill of Orcas chasing prey to the reality of weeding a grow bed was (to say the least) a bit frustrating.
Last night I tackled the strawberry bed, our most overgrown raised bed. Most overgrown because strawberries send out runners and we want to capture every opportunity to make more strawberry plants. This makes it difficult to use other weed control measures like weed barriers and mulch. After the better part of two hours I had pulled the last of the weeds and planted the little exploratory feelers from the strawberries, discovering three strawberries ready for harvest. The unearthing of the berries was a definite bonus I might have missed otherwise.
As I kneel down avoiding the rash inducing trumpet vines protruding from the neighbor’s property while at the same time climbing under and over my blackberry vines to pull the pesky weeds from the fertile soil, my mind drifts back to the beautiful Alaskan sites, cool breezes, and amazing memories. These thoughts keep me going as I weed on my friends.
Wrapping up, it is definitely important to keep those grasses and even the stray Dill plant culled from your beds, but don’t forget to go out to explore beyond your property lines every now and then.