Getting Most From Morning of Weeding
What about making this the weekend you get after those weeds? Ugh? Let me tell you a secret. Most gardeners who have been at it some time tell me that weeding is not a chore, but their favorite job in the garden. It gives them a chance to study their plants, up close, without drawing too much attention.
If you have the proper tools and a little patience, weeding is actually quite relaxing, the perfect Saturday morning activity before you have to take the children to their soccer game.
Gardeners with some acreage think the herbicide Roundup (the more readily available Kleenup is a diluted ready-to-use version of Roundup) the best thing since fly swatters. It is a systemic herbicide, which means that the leaves and stems absorb the herbicide and carry it throughout the plant, even down into the bulbs of Bermuda buttercup, or the rhizomes of Bermuda grass, which is why I no longer have any Bermuda grass in my flower beds.
Roundup works best on hot days when the plants are actively growing. Read the label instructions carefully for other hints and cautions--they are quite detailed. Weeds that can be removed by hand are an even more pleasant weekend project. Better yet, use the champion weeding tool, the asparagus knife.
The Perfect Pry Bar
Made to cut asparagus stalks below ground and sold at most nurseries, it is the perfect pry bar. Push it into the soil well below the weed and lever the roots out of the ground. It’s almost impossible to get the other common oxalis, Oxalis corniculata atropurpurea , out of the garden without one.
The asparagus knife is also the only tool that gets the taproots of the several weeds known as “dandelions.”
Do’s, Don’ts of Hoeing
As for the hoe, it is best saved for young weeds and a few fast-growing but fragile, mat-forming summer weeds such as the small-leaved spotted spurge and the succulent-leaved chickweed. Hoeing should also be done at the beginning of a warm day and only on dry soil since you are really counting on the sun to do the work of drying out and killing the weeds.
One last word of advice: Serious weeders know how much they can bite off in a given day and wisely underestimate their stamina and patience. When they’re finished, they find they have unexpected time on their hands and extravagantly spend it admiring their handiwork. For what is nicer to look upon than a freshly weeded garden bed?
