Wednesday Weeds and Wine

Sunlight is at a premium in my neighborhood.  Specifically, enough sunlight to grow a vegetable garden.  Most of the houses have mature trees that make for pleasant yards but not so great for high-light requiring veggies.  

My next door neighbor does have a raised bed that gets a lot of light.  They aren't gardeners - this was put in by previous homeowners.  It has laid fallow (a term that means full of mint and weeds) for years.  This year several of us who don't have much veggie garden space asked to use this patch of land.

Here it is.  The Community Garden.

We're mostly growing tomatoes this year.  We pulled out weeds and added cow manure and set up irrigation.

Since this is a community effort we agreed to weed on Wednesday nights.  This week I brought the wine.

We invited some supervisors.  The one on the left is Everyone Loves Ann.  The one on the right is Trouble.

This is The Mayor.

Many hands make light work.  And wine and good company makes the work fun.

And, now, because this is my blog and I can do what I want, a picture of the World's Cutest Cat.

Amazing Weeds

Yes, that's right.  I'm writing a blog post talking about how amazing weeds are.  Wanna make something of it, punk?  [it's really hard to type a good John Wayne impersonation -  you'll have to use your imagination and since I'm really bad at impersonations imagine Nathan Lane doing it.  {think The Birdcage}]

The Husband battles dandelions in the lawn.  Other weeds he ignores or tolerates but he constantly deadheads or removes dandelions (he can't walk past one without deadheading it).  Last week he dug some up in the back yard and tossed them onto the bulk head doors.  Where they lay on metal in the morning sun.  Baked dandelions, anyone?  But wait, look!

That's right.  They're still trying to bloom!  Talk about a tough little plant!  They've sucked all of the moisture out of the leaves and roots to support one last, desperate bloom!  How can you NOT be impressed?!  [can I use more exclamation points in one paragraph?!  I bet I can!]

This is a dying tree in my neighbor's yard.  Look at that tight crotch angle.  Look again - see that green?  That is a wild violet.  Somehow the seed blew up there, found enough rotting organic material in the crotch and grew.  I guess they don't need much to thrive.

Here's a "weed" growing in the crack of the sidewalk.  This Spiderwort (Tradescantia) has gotten to be good sized despite The Husband and other walkers stepping on it.  Don't you know if you step on a crack you could break your mother's back?  Don't worry, Queen Bee, I always step OVER the crack.  

Last up is not a weed but is still an impressive story of plant survival.  I have Sedum 'Angelica' growing in the Hell Strip Garden.  Some of it got torn off when the snow plows can by and came to rest about 5 feet away.  Ignore all of the little seedlings that I need to weed out of there and look at how well the Sedum is doing.  It's put down roots and decided to stay awhile.  Who am I to argue?

Now I need to get back outside on one of the first nice days I've had free this spring and, well, remove weeds.

I bet an hour from now I won't be so impressed with their ability to grow anywhere.

Weeds or Free Plants?

Spring is inching into summer, the weather is warming up and the weeds are growing like, well, weeds.  My response to weeds is a three step process.  Step 1) identify weed, Step 2) decide if the weed is a problem or not and Step 3) if the weed is a problem mechanically remove it (by hand or by hoe or by the hand of the Garden Hoe [me]).

I've been out looking at the seedlings that are popping up in the garden.  I've got plenty of these.

These are Liatris.  It's a very distinctive seedling, you can see the two tiny seed leaves and the first true leaf that looks almost like a blade of grass.  I'm leaving some of them and pulling others, depending on where they show up.  I could prevent this problem by being more diligent with the dead heading but the birds will eat the seeds.  Plus I wanted more of these in the garden.  Verdict?  Free Plants and Weeds.

Here's another volunteer.

These are Labrador Violets (Viola labradorica).  They were not too prolific and I was so pleased with these last year that I decided I did want more.  I'll move them around next Spring to spread them around the garden.  Verdict?  Free Plants!

Now these are common violets, sometimes called wild violets, sometimes called dooryard violets.  I don't mind a lot of these around the garden.  They can work as a "green mulch" when the density gets high enough.  At my last house the deer preferentially ate these over my other garden plants.  Also, even as adult plants they are easy to remove.  Verdict?  Free Plants!

Here's one of my favorite weeds.  This is a columbine (Aqueligia).   Probably A. canadensis based on the location.  This is a very nice native plant that reseeds sparsely.  I always enjoy watching the new plant combinations that can form unexpectedly when they pop up.  Verdict?  Wonderful Free Plants!

So far we're coming in on the free plants side of things.  Is there anything I consider a weed to be removed?  Well, yes, grass in the garden beds.  But I didn't photograph THAT.  Here are some more Free Plants.

These are Gaura seedlings.  I had three varieties last summer, one didn't survive the winter but there are plenty of seedlings to pick up the slack.

Here's a Purple Clover that cropped up in the lawn.  Great for nitrogen fixing and great for pollinators.

I've got several volunteers of the Viola family.  My next door neighbor gets these all through her yard and it looks great until they mow them down.

Free marigolds anyone?

Ok.  These are definitely weeds.  I guess I missed a tomato when I was cleaning up the garden last fall.  Look at all the seedlings.  I'll take a hoe to these soon.

Slowing down in the garden, giving myself time to think before I weed gets me - Free Plants.  Hard to complain about that!