Gardening Rant – Weeds
May 28th, 2007 by What's Gotta Go
This last week we, my wife and I, have been putting in a fair amount of time in the yard. She more than I, but I have put in whatever time I can. Because my wife is more of the enthusiast when it comes to the lawn and garden, I am simply providing grunt work support. I move the dirt, pull weeds, dig holes, edge, etc. I am happy with my delegated place in this situation.
As I was bent over, sweating as I diligently waged my battle against the mass of weeds that infest our flower beds, I thought of the type of weeds I was dealing with. There are many of course, but they fall into two groups, tap roots and fibrous roots. I can’t decide which is worse.
Weeds with tap roots are much like an iceberg, what you see above ground may represent as little as 10% of the overall plant. You pull at the top of the thing and it will just break off to preserve the plant as a whole. Like a good little trooper, that above ground bit will sacrifice itself for the greater “good.” I have learned to use a shovel to dig up the ground around a big tap root weed to loosen the dirt, making retrieval much easier and complete, though a little time consuming.
I’d take the tap root variety over fibrous roots any day. With tap roots they may be a lot of work, but at least I feel like I have a little victory each time I pull out one of those big suckers. The fibrous roots there is simply no winning. You can pull and pick all you want, but there is going to be some of that mass network of plant still in there. I use the shovel to try and pull it up, only to get a mass of dirt that only represents a small portion of the nemesis. Unless out of sheer dumb luck you happen to catch the sucker before it sends out its minions of roots, you will end up picking at the plant forever unless you resort to some deadly poisons. Not something you want to do next do that savory fruit tree you just planted though.
If you even dabble in a flower bed some, you know what I am talking about here. Weeds stink; no two ways about it. Complaining about it makes me feel a little better, but I know they will be there again to fight another day no matter what I say. I’ll just keep chipping away at them, and hopefully keep them at bay.
Oh boy do I hear you on this one Jeremy :( Weeding is a daily job, no doubt about it!! Sometimes makes you wonder why you have gardens at all, doesn’t it!!
I definitely “prefer” tap roots – atleast there is a chance of victory there. Unless of course you are talking about mid July or August here in Minnesota when the clay soil is like a rock. Somehow those weeds are able to grow up through what a shovel cannot begin to dig into. I’ll never understand it.
However, what it all comes down to is that it’s all worth it when you look out over the garden and enjoy the beauty!! Keep telling yourself that as you dig :)
Well since your flowers, grass, garden is not native to your area and the weeds are…first problem we suburb dwelling homo-sapiens have is trying to introduce our non-native plants…it is a never ended battle…I say go natural and leave the weeds! :)
*ugh*
2 words: Morning Glory
Whatever idiot decided that this was pretty and needed to be planted enmasse around my property should be consigned to the lowest level of whatever punishement-driven afterlife they believe in!
The rotten things are trying to become groundcover (and in some part succeeding against me) and choking out everything else that I want to have grow in the yard.
I can deal with the volunteer yarrow, dandelions and buttercups, clumps of grassoids in the flower beds, even the blackberries and thistles(albeit with gloves) but this thing deserves it’s other name “bindweed” (or strangleweed).
I couldn’t agree with you more on the Morning Glory. That is the very weed I am primarily referring to on the fibrous roots. Those things really do bind the entire area to their bidding, choking out everything else. You have to admire its efficiency…for a moment, then curse it from that point on while trying to remove it.