I'm not sure, but I think this may be the weediest year ever for my garden, flower beds, shrubs and other leafy environs within the forested enclave I call "home." Seas of delicate grasses wave politely in the humid breeze, not seeming to mind that they are choking out the sweat-and-tears-planted Shasta daisies and ferns (although the ferns take it all in stride, I've noticed).
When I get a few minutes away from the computer and the dog and the appointments and the phone, I try to get out there and take a swipe at a section of them. They really aren't rooted deeply. They give up without much of a fight. After 15 minutes and a three foot cleared swath, I wonder why I don't stick to it and really weed the WHOLE property. Another 15 minutes of mindless weeding reminds me: this is really boring.
There is limited challenge to making sure I pull up the entire root system instead of snapping off the stems (which will promptly and quickly shoot back to knee height again). A coach of mine once recommended that I spend my mindless gardening time thinking about solutions to issues I faced in my marketing company. She just didn't get it: gardening is SUPPOSED to be mindless.
When I am weeding, or staking tomatoes or watering the onions or planting petunias, I am focused on one thing and one thing ONLY: the task at hand. It's living in the moment to the highest exponent. That's why I love gardening, I guess. Non-gardeners thing it's "work" -- all that sweat and digging. I know better. It's vegetative mediation---"Vegiation" perhaps?
Perhaps, then "boring" is too strong a word for my weeding chagrin. "Calming." "Zen-like repetition." "Weed-like." Now that's more like it.
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1 comment:
Linda,
The more weeds you have in the garden the more butterflies you will have. Many of those weeds could be butterfly host plants, pull them and you remove the larva.
My thoughts are weed what you have to and leave the rest.
Peace,
Randy
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