Flexing Their Green Muscles

Don’t you just hate those moments when new growth is just coming through the surface - you’re not sure (in some cases) what is expected growth and what is nutrient robbing weeds.

By the time you can tell the difference (or when you finally remember to take a close look) the weeds might be flexing their green muscles by crowding out the plants you want to keep. You’re not certain, but one of them looks a little bit like Marlin Brando and it seems to making an offer you can’t refuse.

Then, just when you’ve committed to the mass eradication of the weed mob, you discover that by pulling the weeds you might just yank an innocent vegetable or flower too.

In farming it’s not out of the question to allow both weed and grain to grow together. Harvest allows the two to be separated easily. When I’ve sought to wrench nasty bits of undefined and unwanted weeds from my flower garden, I invariably pull out a bulb or two. But, if I leave the weeds in place, the flower garden looks awful.

Two things have helped make my flower garden relatively weed free. The first is a weed barrier fabric that can be cut in locations where you physically plant flowers. The second is a covering of mulch that holds moisture in and can choke out some of the additional weed infestation.

No one loves weeds (who was that guy that thought dandelions was a good idea?), but you can do a few things to put a stop to weeds if you take preventative action early enough in the planting season. If you wait, you may need to keep up with an army of small weeds that insist on a season long series of frustrations.

If you should happen to need to pull larger weeds, a fully saturated plot will allow the weeds to be removed more easily and may allow replanting of flowers that were removed by mistake.