Saturday, January 7, 2012

Unseen Enemies Revealed


The snow cover on the garden is gone. It has pretty much all melted, but the ground remains frozen. Now the pernicious weeds that usually lurk under the snow are in plain sight. Sheep sorrel might be welcome in some places. I know I have seen seed for sale, but here it is plant non gratis big time. In our garden dreams we find a way to eradicate this plant without using herbicides. In truth spring and plenty of hard work will be needed to make a dent in its numbers.


They say you should know your enemy and in this case I don't. All I know is that this weed is also on our most unwanted list. These tiny plants have significant root growth. I can't do anything now, but I know where they live and I'll be back!


Chickweed can be a helpful plant. It's supposed to be good in salads, but I don't like it. It's juice has been known to cure skin rashes. In this case we just have way too much of it.  I'm not interested in a green carpet of chickweed as a ground cover in my garden beds.With the ground frozen all we can do is wait and make plans to uproot these huge plants in the spring.

A big white breasted hawk was sitting in a tree this afternoon. I really wanted a picture. Ed volunteered to sneak out and try to take it, but at the sound of the kitchen door closing the big bird was gone. Perhaps he will be back!


3 comments:

Lona said...

I do not know what the first weed is either but I have Chickweed all over the place here. I pull it up all year long and it still finds its way back. This warmer weather has caused the weeds to keep right on growing so far this year. Have a wonderful week.

HolleyGarden said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog. I hate when I look outside and all I see coming up in the garden are those nasty winter weeds! I have a few that stubbornly show up year after year, with no visible sign of their retreat!

Donna said...

we have not had much snow either and the plants are not happy...not much for weeds here due to the very cold temps most days although my nemesis is teasel...