Call me strange, but I love to weed. There is nothing so satisfying as tugging on a big weed and feeling the roots loosen in the soil to emerge from the ground intact. Unless it’s the neat, clean look of the flower bed or garden when the weeding is finished. I also enjoy walking around the vegetable garden with my sharp-pointed hoe and nicking off the little weed seedlings. Those little buggers aren’t going to be stealing water and nutrition from my beans and carrots!
The best time to weed is a day or two after a good rain or watering. There’s no point in weeding if the plant breaks off and the roots remain in the ground. Most likely the weed will re-sprout, possibly coming back even stronger than before, and will have to be pulled again.
Care should be taken when hoeing weeds. Many perennial weeds sprout from little pieces of roots left in the soil. If you chop the root into ten pieces with your hoe, you’ll have ten new weeds. The best plan for perennial weeds, quackgrass for example, is to pull them, making sure the entire root comes up. If the roots break off, pretend you’re a kid playing in the mud again and dig down in the soil with your hands until you get the rest of it. It’s fun, really.
My grandpa says that my grandma spent hours on her knees pulling the intertwined strands of creeping Charlie, a.k.a. ground ivy, from their lawn. And it is addictive – once you start pulling a strand, it will lift up another strand which begs to be pulled and that one leads to another . . . it’s hard to quit. Today I use a cup of borax per gallon of water to cover 1,000 square feet to kill the creeping Charlie, but occasionally I’ll spend an hour hand pulling. It gives me a connection to my grandma somehow, even though she’s been gone many years.
Chiropractor Dr. Chris Resch says that the best position for weeding is down on your knees. The worst position is bending at the waist with legs straight. He adds that it is important to switch positions often, at least every 10 minutes.
He also said that the big gardening or landscaping jobs should be broken up over a period of several days rather than trying to complete everything at once. Don’t worry, the weeds will still be there tomorrow!
There are many different types of hoes, diggers and hand tools designed to aid in weeding. Each experienced gardener will recommend a different favorite tool. The only way to find out which tool works best for you is to try out a variety of them.
Here’s a tip for those who aren’t as crazy about weeding as I am: keep at it throughout June, and by July you’ll be able to relax in a lawn chair and admire your weed-free beds. Few weeds germinate in the hot dry days later in summer, unless they are allowed to go to seed in June.
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