Weeding

I didn't weed my gardens for the first four years of owning a garden.

When we studied weed identification in my Horticulture course at College, I hated it, crammed before the exam, and passed but thought, "What an awful subject".

Weeds were just dumb to me. I always abided by the notion of 'a weed is just a plant growing where one doesn't want it" and "it's a natural looking garden'.

I worked this summer in a vineyard nearby, and part of our job was doing some garden maintenance near the cellar door and restaurant. I discovered how mindful weeding could be. I really enjoyed it. 

Autumn arrived and the time when work can start to be done in the garden in preparation for spring. I got out a trowel and a fork and I weeded, It was so mindful. It was so satisfying. And most surprisingly, I discovered why weeds are in fact, a nuisance. In my Mediterranean Garden, the whole garden had a mat of weed roots under the surface, meaning water was got getting past the top 1 to 2 inches and all of the lovely plants I WANT were struggling.  They were taking all of the water, taking the nutrients and self seeding, thereby creating a never ending life cycle. 

The Mediterranean Garden, Spring 2024

So now I weed. If I'm bored, I weed. If it's sunny, I weed. Weeding is my favourite.

This morning I decided to tidy up the Cherry Tree Garden. Over winter I dug up clumps and clumps of bearded iris growing along my fence line, divided then, and planted them en masse in the style of Van Gogh's 'Irises'

Irises. Vincent Van Gogh 1889.

It's a brutal piece of the garden. Full sun including getting smashed by afternoon western sun all summer so I'm hoping the bearded irises not only survive but also flourish. Also in this garden is Armeria Bees Ruby, Myoporum parvifolium fine leaf pink, Gaura butterfly bush and self seeded violas. (And the now-past-their-best daffodils).

Despite mulching this garden DEEP, the weeds have still come through. They always do.

The problem is, I don't actually think weeds really detract from a garden. It was really easy to ignore weeds for four years.

But early morning, after 2 coffees, with sun on my back I got in.

The bonus of weeding is getting to know your garden really intimately. Discovering every square inch of plant life, what's going on with the soil and seeing the garden up close. On a big block it's very, very easy to view it all as one big picture and not the sum of its parts.

Weeding is surely the most satisfaction for effort payoff. Look at twenty minutes of work. 

And the final result. Every single plants looks better and of course, the overall result is very pleasing.

Weeding is such a major part of gardening. I hope in time I can get on top of the weeds overall, but living with farmland on 3 sides will mean it's always going to be a job. I'm so happy it's a job I now enjoy.