Meant to ask this question before, but never got around to it. With all the snow and nothing else to do, now is a good time I think, lol! I've been curious to know what the weeding process is like in your gardens? It is such a routine job, but we have never talked about it before and I thought it would be interesting to see how similar or dissimilar we are in it!
Do you like weeding, or is it nothing but a chore for you?
What is the most aggravating weed growing in your garden?
How often do you do it? Does it depend on what time of the growing season it is?
Do you take your time and do it section by section? Or do you devote an entire day or weekend and get the whole garden weeded at once?
Where do the weeds get tossed as you are weeding? Do you go around with a bucket, or make piles to be taken away later?
What are the weediest parts of your garden? Are there any areas you sort of just "let go" when it comes to weeds?
What is your favorite weeding tool(s)? Do you have a different tool for different jobs/areas?
Funny question, but do you sit on something while you weed? Or is everything so crowded that you kind of have to do the "tiptoe and squat" dance around the beds?
Do you use anything to reduce the amount of weeds you have? Like a type of mulch, newspaper, weed barrier material, weed reducing product etc? Or do you avoid that because you promote reseeding plants?
Lastly, what do you do with all the dug up weeds? Do you compost them, have a dumping area in your yard, or trash em'? Do you guys have a "green can" especially for yard waste?
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My answers! ;-)
First, I don't much care for weeding. Now I don't mind cutting back and deadheading, but weeding is not a chore I enjoy.
I dislike bindweed intensely. Usually what I end up doing is cutting the vines that grow up neighboring plants and dig up the roots, laving the vines to die away. No way am I going to stand there and try and unwind those suckers from the plant!! There is also a nasty weed in my garden that has a terrible tap root, hollow and milky stems, and a yellow dandelion like flower. Anyone know what it is? OH! And that yellow flowering Oxalis. No getting rid of that guy, what with the fine roots! Best you can do is clear them out as soon as seed pods form to keep them from spreading more.
The weediest time of the year is mid to late spring when the rains come and it is starting to get warm out! May, June, and part of July are the main months in my garden, when I am out weekly weeding. They don't seem to pop up and grow as fast in the heat of summer. I am ashamed of myself, but I didn't do much weeding at all over this past summer. It didn't hurt anything to let it go, but it certainly wasn't as attractive! Next year I hope to do better.
I used to try and get the whole thing done in a day or two, but now pace myself and do it one section at a time AND only as needed (don't bother if there are only a few little ones). Learned my lesson a couple years back in summer when I overdid it. I was trying to get the back garden weeded, as well as a neighbors veggie plot while they were on vacation. Must have gotten heat exhaustion or something, because I was sick to my stomach from night to early morning, chills then burning up, and a bit light headed. Now I know why it is best to TAKE YOUR TIME!
Generally I take a large plastic pot around with me as I weed to dump the unwanted greenery in. If there is a lot or I am also deadheading/cutting back as I go I will often pile things up on the pathway for later cleanup.
The weediest part of my garden is along the side of the fence, mostly in the very back of the garden. Probably because the soil is nice and stays fairly moist, plus the fact that they run over from the neighbors lot! I do tend to let this area "go" more than I should, especially the area behind the Joe Pye Weed, evergreen, and Russian Sage since no one can really see anything behind them!
My favorite weeding tool is a retired kitchen knife! Also works good for edging the grass and dividing plants. That is the only tool I use for weeding.
For the open spaces of the garden, along the boarders and pathway, I sit on a half of a cinder block. Not the easiest thing to tote around the yard, but it works for me! When I am to lazy to go fetch the cinder block I have a bad habit of sitting on the edge of that huge pot I put the weed remains in as I work! Yes, I have "fallen in" and been temporarily stuck on occasion, LOL!!! Thankfully most of the neighbors can't see in the yard, or else they would have a good laugh watching me try and weasel out of my predicament and pop the bucket off!! ;-D
But most of the garden is so packed with plants that there is no where to even put the block to sit. So those areas I either have to squat n' weed or bend over and weed.
Nope, don't use anything to deter weeds from growing since I encourage most plants to reseed in my garden. Any mulch I put down is more for keeping an area from drying out so fast or to enrich the soil, not keeping weeds down.
The neighbors often have room left in their green can by pickup to let me toss some things in. I will be honest here, I do dump weeds and green matter from the yard in the actual trashcan. Don't see why it is such an issue since it WILL decompose.
Well I certainly did ramble on didn't I? Lol! Sometimes ya' just NEED a good long garden chat!
Your turn. I want to hear how the weeding process goes in your gardens.
CMK
loisthegardener_nc7b
lavender_lass
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