Unexpectedly Getting Lost in the Weeding Meditation!
It was my intention to get a lot of work done today, but when Mrs. Denmarkguy and I went out to our garden this morning — just to check out how things were doing — I once again noticed a particular annoying patch of weeds at the side of our driveway.
Calendulas in bloom
In truth, it's not anything new. In fact, is one of the more long-term neglected parts of our property; a small narrow strip between the concrete driveway and the stone wall that marks the property line... that normally just ends up being overgrown with grass and random plants because we don't tend to it. Year after year we talk about cleaning it up and putting in a bunch of calendulas because they would look pretty and cheerful in that spot.
Good intentions, and all that stuff...
We also have two small apple trees growing there, along with a couple of small blueberry bushes that we try our best to protect inside wire fencing so that our local herd of deer don't come by and chew them off to the ground.
The deer represent one of the fun aspects of gardening around here: pretty much everything is fair game to the deer, and they think most of these nicely manicured suburban yards are essentially a giant salad bar, but there explicitly for them!
We call them "rodents on stilts"
Our regular vegetable garden is inside an 8-foot fence, and so far we have managed to not have any deer come in there even though the gate is not nearly as tall. However the gate does face the driveway and I don't think they like jumping from or to a concrete surface.
But let's get back to the "weeding meditation."
Although most gardeners seem to detest weeding, I actually find it to be a very cathartic thing. My knees aren't entirely happy about weeding anymore so I tend to kneel on something soft like one of those green foam pads designed for the purpose, but once I get into truly "deep cleaning" an area I find weeding to be a particularly relaxing pastime.
In this case, I didn't even mind the fairly plentiful "beggars lice" that were in the bed, primarily because they hadn't set flower yet and so there were none of those annoying little round things that stick to everything! There were also a few thistles (ouch!) and plenty of dandelions that had to be dug up.
Our little sparrow nest is in the thick greenery at the far end. The entire area was that thick!
As testament to how deeply I sink into weeding projects, I was actually at it for a solid three hours and didn't realize it had been that long!
I tend to throw the debris into one of our plastic recycling bins and then dump it in the back of our truck to haul to the dump. All in all, I weeded out about 10 recycling bins full!
Yes, I know we could compost it here on the property but I'd just as well the plethora of beggar's lice, thistles, dandelion seeds and other such things end up in other people's yards not in ours!
Seen from the opposite side
At the end of the three hours I got most of the area nicely cleared out and I even freed the wee blueberry bushes from their thick cover of greenery. And they were actually in bloom, under everything!
I didn't actually finish the weeding job because as I was progressing past our sage bush, a small white crowned sparrow kept flying up and complaining bitterly... so I realized that the Mrs. Sparrow had a nest on the ground under the sage. So in the end I ended up leaving about a six foot belt of thick grass and other garbage so that she could feel reasonably safe.
Blueberry blossoms!
The rest of the area, however, was nicely cleaned up and I used a hand tiller to break up the soil a bit, and then scattered a bunch of calendula seeds we collected from last year's plants and raked them in. At the end, I watered the area pretty thoroughly and felt certain sense of accomplishment at getting the project done.
Around here, we refer to such projects as "two year and two hour projects." Which basically means that we take two years to think about it, plan it, talk about it, go hmmm and huh... after which we finally do the task in about two hours or sometimes less. Today it was actually about four hours, all told.
The cool thing about doing this, even though my bones feel a bit weary at this late hour, is that it was actually very relaxing… and there was a certain sense of accomplishment that went with it!
Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!
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Created at 2023-05-19 02:08 PST
0834/2089
That was a very good job done! I agree, the calendulas will be lovely!
You know how much I love them!
Thank you! It will be nice to have a whole patch of bright color instead of the usual green-turns-to-brown of the grass and weeds. Our climate is usually mild enough that the flowers keep going till well into November... and sometimes the plants even winter.
Gotta Love "rodents on stilts" - LOL!
Sparrows nest on the ground...?
I'm in awe of the empty spaces in your garden. I have rotten clay, sand, former pasture, wetlands, and a bit of woods, and every single square inch is crammed with a ludicrous number of plants, most of them nonnative invaders. But the native asters and goldenrod are among the worst offenders, with their seeds going everywhere AND taking root anywhere at all.
Empty space in a yard! Oh what a concept!
Mom tells me to spread weed preventer (chemicals!) or use roundup. Nope.
Winter looks more and more welcome to me with every passing year.
We started calling them that... it's a little less "brutal" than "sausage on stilts."
I've determined that the white-crowned sparrows are among the dumbest of our local birds, at least when it comes to nesting. We previously found one nest in our strawberry patch (raised bed) and now this. Chances are a weasel will get to them sooner or later.
I fought hard for that patch of ground! And every other patch of ground here is a battle to claim, but we're gaining on it... through sheer determination, or maybe it's madness? Mostly the pests here are thistles, scotch broom, beggars lice and tansy ragwort. At least the dandelions and miner's lettuce are useful!
We are chemical free. If we really have to clear an area, it's vinegar, dish soap and salt.
What a delightful post. I love how you call deer rodents on stilts 🤣🦌🦌
I'm not a big fan of weeding. We tend to do it in winter when the soil is damp and they are easier to extract. But as you say, sometimes it can be meditative too!
I prefer weeding in late spring when the weeds are somewhat larger, but haven't yet set flowers and seeds... and the ground is not a muddy mess, but still moist and soft enough that it's not like working with concrete.