Weedy Ideas

Written by Nellie Neal

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Think of me as your new best friend in the often-surprising world of gardening in the southeast US.  I'll tell you what's going on in my garden, and I truly hope you'll do the same. Right now, it's all about planting, which starts with weeding. In a brutally hot, dry summer like last year, the invading green plants are fewer but nearly impossible to pull out of my well-amended but essentially hard clay soil. Wetter and cooler overall, this year the pulling is easy, but the weeds have grown like, well, ‘plants growing where the gardener doesn't want them'. That's the first horticulture definition I learned in school, and it informs my gardening choices.

When you call a plant a ‘weed', you've judged it and deemed it unworthy. Further, to judge a plant by where it's growing implies that you know what should be there, so you pluck it out in favor of another. That insight has led me to understand that some of my favorite ‘weeds' deserve to grow elsewhere in my garden, while there are some true terrors that I wish I'd never known. And that tells you who I am: I never met a plant I didn't want to grow, sometimes to my dismay.

As to the task itself, I weed with first one hand and then the other, to keep the stress equally distributed. Music in my mp3 player gets me in a rhythm, and I try to pull 10 times on each side. This method came to me from a professional landscaper who introduced me to the term ‘repetitive motion injury' and urged me to avoid it. Try it and there'll be no more forearm stiffness, either. When the target is deeply rooted like dandelion in my daffodils or needs to be ‘teased' out of its nest, don't strain. I use a cobrahead hand weeder, or if the weeds are out of reach, the long handled version. The sharp, curved blade reaches right under the rhizomes of my nemesis, dollarweed.

Here's my ideal planting plan for the next few weeks. It's unlikely to all get done, of course, because gardening is always a path but seldom a destination. I'm a bit late getting broccoli in, but right on time for cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. After that comes another planting of spinach, some collards, and as many lettuces as space allows. In the flower garden, I'm sowing cornflowers and nasturtiums, and will no doubt spend hours choosing between pansy, panola, and Johnny jump-ups. Never tied to one color scheme, I'm as likely to opt for dark purple as pale orange depending on the year. It's also time for Holland bulbs, from grape hyacinth to daffodils and tulips. I do put tulips and hyacinth in the refrigerator crisper drawer now for planting in December. Even so, they're a bit risky here. Short stems and very brief bloom time can be disappointing, but in a cool, dry spring, you can expect a week from them at least. And try a giant allium this year for one spectacular flower next spring. 

One more note on weeding. It has been described as a meditation by some, a drudge by others. You decide, and let me know.

GardenMama Nellie Neal is a writer, photographer, and radio host whose new book, Organic Gardening Down South, will be released in September, 2008, by BB Mackey Books of Wayne, PA. She has been a member of Garden Writers Association since 1993 and is National Spokesperson for Multi Bloom and Mega Green, OMRI listed organic catfish hydrolysate fertilizers made in Isola, MS. Her website is www.gardenmama.com.You can see her member profile at www.theMulch.com/profile/gardenmama .