by Bob Shaw, EMGV

Weeds, I once thought, are a curse. Perhaps the Lord, looking down on Carolina and musing that it was just too nice, sent Gabriel to bring us extra hot weather and especially bountiful crops of weeds^[1]. I still think weeds are a curse but have found with them, now and then, a little satisfaction. 

Time is important. Before I retired I weeded when I could, but I was often away and, by mid-July, had surrendered my yard and gardens and, when I passed by them, looked the other way. Now I have time to keep after weeds and have discovered a sort of tipping point:  After several years of faithful but not obsessive weeding, I now hold the weeds at bay and mid-summer no longer looks so bad.

During weeding, one can pass into an agreeable meditative state or one can wear a portable radio and multitask. One can relax. A serious mistake is unlikely unless you are weeding someone else’s yard and, anyway, nature is so forgiving.

I don’t eschew herbicides; but use them sparingly – on that dratted Bermuda grass, say.  Some weeds, especially after rain, come out, root and all, rather easily;  crabgrass, the promiscuous Japanese stilt grass, and henbit for example. And getting down close to the ground to weed shows us so much more; the weeds themselves and their habits, occasional interesting bugs (very useful if we discover a trail of ants about to foray into our house). Early this spring, during weeding, I found myriads of beautiful red and black box-elder bugs under our maples. Sometimes, joy of joys, we may encounter a really good bug, perhaps a praying mantis.

Let’s give weeds their due – remarkable, aren’t they? Looking over a bed that seemed, at first, weed free, I spot a weed and, pulling it up, spot another close by. Soon, a forest of weeds has appeared where none seemed to be just a minute before. And how do they spring up so promptly after a rain? Coexistence isn’t an option – weeds, like Japanese beetles, don’t know about sharing.

In life we seek positive results. And so it is with weeding:  What is more positive than standing up from a pile of rooted-up weeds and admiring an immaculate garden bed?  Even better, sometimes one can put that pile into the compost bin and turn it into useful stuff.²  If only the rest of life were like that.

Photo captions, clockwise from upper left: Box-elder bug (credit: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org), henbit, Japanese stiltgrass, Bermuda grass.

References

¹ Lucifer may have participated.  If lawns are in hell, they are planted in Bermuda grass.  And a close reading of Job would surely turn up a reference to Bermuda grass.

² Avoid composting weeds if they have begun producing seeds.  NC Extension Gardener Handbook, What not to compost https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/2-composting#section_heading_5138

Photo credits
https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/weeds-in-turf/henbit/ https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/grasses/bermudagrass/
https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/weeds-in-turf/japanese-stiltgrass/
https://www.insectimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5024073