Just this morning, I pulled this tub of rampant weeds from one of the flower beds. This haul was all from the six foot border seen in the photo. Turning my back for just a minute allowed them to rise up to worship the sun.
Weeds, unlike flowers and vegetables, don't mind being severely crowded. They long not for air circulation around them. Without actually having elbows, they shove other herbage aside and shoot ever upwards.
It's a good thing that I actually enjoy weeding. Years ago, I realized I could learn to love weeding or gardening would be a dreadful chore. Even though I came to understand that I could always plant more than I could keep weeded, I still am outnumbered on the weeds front.
Weeding isn't just a one time thing. I've already weeded the entire lily bed twice. Eternal vigilance is the price of gardening.
Mulch is great, too, but even that has to be replenished every couple of weeks because weeds are sprouting the moment the contents of the mower grass catcher is emptied onto the ground.
Fortunately, there are the early veggies. This delicious Early Round Dutch Cabbage and Little Sweetie Snow Peas finished in first place yesterday. Actually, it was while I was mulching around the cabbages that the weeds rose up in the peony border.
Then there are the Gaillardias. They are annual flowers but act like weeds. So many have come up this spring from last year's planting that I've had to yank many of them out. It feels cruel.
Perhaps I should have planted the Gaillardias in the middle of the grassy front yard. If anything could hold their own against invasive Bermuda grass, it's them. They would simply flop over and smother the grass. I'll try that next year.
The time for planting is past. Now is the time for racing the weeds to the Solstice.
