Get out there and weed!

This may not be a glamorous garden topic, but it is timely.  If you haven't been out doing battle with the weeds yet, this is your last chance.  By July, your perennials  will have given up hope of being rescued.  April is the best time to start if you want pristine beds, but it may not be too late.  I actually enjoy weeding - talk about instant gratification!  You go out there it may be a mess, but in a couple of hours, what a transformation!   Not many tasks have that kind of obvious immediate impact.

Weeds are in the eye of the beholder.  The definition is simply, "an unwanted plant".  This year, I'm calling sunflowers a weed.

They must have come from the birdseed we put in our feeder.  I pulled most of them, but left a few for fall color.  They're easy to identify, but some things aren't.  My husband keeps pulling the plant in the center of this photo, thinking it's a thistle.

It's actually a beautiful pink poppy that I seeded early in spring.  Sometimes it's best to let things grow a little while before deciding whether to pull or not.  I thought I had a huge crop of weeds three feet tall until a friend  pointed out that they were asters.  Oh, yeah.  I knew that.  They sure do look like weeds though.

Weeds that have not yet flowered can be pulled and left on the ground.  However, if they are already flowering, throw them in the garbage!  The flowers contain seeds that are viable even after you pull the plant. You 'll get another generation of weeds if you leave them on the ground.

There is more to weeding than just pulling at the top of the plant.  It is satisfying to see that nasty foliage disappear, but if the root remains, your enemy will quickly return.  Pulling weeds when the soil is moist makes it easier to get the entire root.  And you need to lift up the leaves of other plants to uncover the enemy's hiding spots.  Weeds are devious.  They seem to mask themselves like chameleons among plants that they resemble.

This mystery weed  hiding under a ninebark was easy to spot.  But he didn't go peacefully.  I had to use my pick ax to dig him out.  The pick ax is my favorite weeding tool. I chop into the soil next to the weed, pry up, and the root lifts out.

If weeds have grown into the middle of a perennial, you can dig out the entire clump, pull out the weeds, and replant the flower.  Just make sure you get out all of the weed roots.

A 3-4 inch layer of mulch goes a long way in preventing weeds, as does getting out there and destroying the first generation in early spring before you get a second and third generation by midsummer.  I prefer to take a walk around the yard daily and pull a dozen rather than wait and weed for hours once a month.  It doesn't feel like "weeding" when you're taking a stroll with a glass of wine in the evening (just a suggestion).

I have no idea what this mystery weed is.  I let it grow for a while, thinking it might be something I forgot I planted, but it doesn't look familiar, so it's time for the pick ax.  If anyone recognizes it, let me know what it is (the pink flower is not attached - that's perennial geranium).

This photo has nothing to do with weeds.  I just wanted to end on a happier note.  This is why we work so hard!

Designing With Color

     When adding new plants to the garden, it's so tempting to want something new and different.  What we already have seems boring.,  We want to mix it up a little!    Many people add to their gardens a little at a time with one or two of each new plant.  After doing this for a while, they realize that it doesn't look the way they had envisioned their yard to be, but they aren't sure what 's wrong.  It turned out to be a mish-mash of colors, heights and shapes without a unifying theme.
    
     One way to avoid this look is to choose a color palette for each area of your yard.  When there are too many colors in one space, the eye can't rest in any one place.  You are bombarded with so much stimulus, that you don't know where to look.  A garden that is limited in color appears more unified and soothing.  It can be difficult to be selective about color choices.  There are so many gorgeous plants and we want them all!  If you want, you can have them all - just not in the same part of your landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my front yard garden.  It's shades of purple, blue, pink. and white.  I don't feel limited at all.  There are so many variations in size, texture and height and the garden changes continually from May to September.  It never looks the same two weeks in a row.

 

 







 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are things that are in bloom currently.  Later in summer there will be many other plants in similar shades, so that as one ceases to provide color, another will take over.  The garden will tranistion into fall, finishing with purple asters and pink Clara Curtis daisies. 






Meanwhile, the backyard is blooming in warm  colors - shades of yellow, orange, and red.  You can have every color of the rainbow!  More on the topic of a unified garden design in my next post.