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| Borage grows easily and attracts beneficial insects - aka Bee Bread. |
One weed - now a tribe - has formed a colony in the butterfly garden. The yellow flowers produce seed, but the plant spreads through its roots.
As every gardener knows, if the good plants are doing well, the obnoxious weeds are spreading faster than the latest fib from synod headquarters.
The blessing of weeds is their immediate take-over of bare soil, their robust growth a sign of healthy soil, and their roots feeding the soil population.
Was it foolishness that drove my ancestors to break up the prairie grass soil of Illinois and Iowa, fast-tracking the modern polished steel plow? Not at all. The soil was so rich that a man jumping down from a wagon would feel the ground shimmy like a giant pudding under his feet.
The wealth of the Great Plains soil came from centuries of prairie grass, with roots 30 feet deep, the herds of bison consuming and processing the nitrogen rich plants. God created an area of rich farmland, absent trees, that was only rivaled by the Ukraine. Grass, soil creatures, and herds of buffalo provided a future food source for millions and farm implement jobs for thousands. In fact, John Deere's efforts along the Mississippi promoted even more factories and brought Swedish immigrants to work them.
Seeing the rainy days ahead, I decided to wipe out this weed in a series of lightning strikes - not with Round Up, but with my lopping shears. I walked about the three garden spaces and chopped them off at ground level. Soon the plants were on the ground donating the nitrogen they used before to invigorate the soil again.
Living roots feed the soil, so I know that - by divine decree - those roots will make the soil even richer as they struggle to rebuild the colony of weeds. They will return, but so will I.
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| Comfrey is the Borage's cousin - with similar flowers - but serves as a bully plant for filling in spaces the weeds want to grab. |
One permanent solution is to grow bully plants. I coined that term for desirable plants we want to grow then regret their size and vigor.
The Beauty Berry bushes that I once watered in the dry season - they have grown in girth - like church officials. The single Comfrey - that cousin to the Borage flowers - has grown with age, mostly at the waistline.
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| The Beauty Berries are photogenic - and birds love them in late fall. The plants become impressive bushes in time. |
