National Weed Your Garden Day, 2023 - A Fierce Rebuttal

 

Weeds - Guardians of the Soil is considered a classic in gardening, for good reason.

Written by a Journalism Graduate!

"One of the best gardening tips is to stay in control of your garden. Unfortunately, weeds grow fast, very fast. With inattention, they can soon become overwhelming. Giving daily attention to your garden makes it easier to maintain. Weeding 5 or 10 minutes each day will make the job seem bearable. It might even be enjoyable. This way you will be in control, and the weeds will not!"

The Rebuttal

Almost all weeds improve the soil and benefit wildlife. Some are annoying, but their bad habits can be tamed with an eye to Creation rather than the gardening center's chemical Chernobyls. 

Deep roots (dandelions, Joe Pye, Pook Weed) break up soil, improve the soil, and drill downward to let rain penetrate further.

Shallow roots like wild strawberries fill in bare spots and bloom in the darkest shade, providing tiny brilliant red strawberries for the birds, who respond with free planting chores aided by fertilizer.

Prolific seeds serve as food for wildlife, and they can be tamed, like the dreaded crab grass. The hated crab grass was brought over as a grain producer. When I had a patch where it was growing promiscuously, I laid down cardboard and bales of straw on top. Crab grass ended its monopoly by turning into compost on the spot. Now bee balm and other desirable plants flourish there.

Rank weeds can often be crowded out by clumps of attractive flowers. Once they are established the unwanted weeds can be squeezed out automatically or simply cut low enough to despair of becoming dominant.

Likewise, an unproductive area, such as shallow soil around a maple, can be beautified by the right kind of spreading herb. I am using bee balm under the maple because of shallow tree roots and shallow soil.

Mountain mint defies everything else, so I am letting some flourish while crowding out what I do not want.

Poke berry - that hideous strength or a bird feeder that multiplies? My rules are - 

1. Cut poke off at the soil level in the front gardens.
2. Let them loose to grow in the back gardens, with hosta, Joe Pye, and some Clethra.

Jesus, the Lord of Creation, engineered all the plants and animals to work together. Not unlike our bodies, which are far more complicated, plants swap, share, improve, smother, beautify, and fructify everything. 

I leave most stalks up for the winter. My mother asked why, in Minnesota. I said, "Most birds will land on corn and sunflower stalks to have a safe spot above the snow for spotting food. Meanwhile the roots rot into the soil and improve it."

So I leave with this question - Which is more dangerous ugly?

1. A dandelion herb, which provides lining for the hummingbird nest, wine for the wine-bibber, and a root converted to a coffee substitute?

OR

An angry, desperate gardener storming down the hardware store aisles for the most toxic and long lasting poison he can find. Take a moment to inhale that herbicidal aisle.