Weeding after the rains

Extreme weeding! (public domain photo)

The rainy weather we've been having has turned our backyard into a jungle. Getting rid of the weeds is my first priority. I haven't been able to garden much lately, due to the muddy conditions. Most of the garden produce is nearly ready to be harvested. Unfortunately, I'll be lucky if I can find the veggies amongst the creeping vines and purslane clusters.

I know purslane is edible and highly nutritious, but honestly, I wouldn't use that much of it in a millennium. If you want some, please feel free to come help with the “harvest.”

So, what's a girl to do? Well, I guess it's back to the routine of mow, whack, dig, pull. It's the simplest thing to do when preparing a neglected lawn for gardening or when the garden gets out of control from heavy rains like mine has. If you're in the same position, here's what you can do and what I'll be doing. Whew! Talk about gardening gradually. This may take me all week!

Mowing as weed control

Of course, the lawn has to be mowed, rain or no rain. But I'm not talking about the lawn here. I'm talking about the veggie garden. We have spaces between some of the rows that are big enough to mow, so why not? We have a grass catcher, so the weed seeds won't spread too far. The mower will get the weeds down far enough to take the next step.

Whacking weeds in the garden

Once I've mowed everything down as much as possible without cutting down the veggies, I'll get out the weed whacker. If it sounds drastic, it is. Fixer uppers like ours have often gone without care for many years. Weed removal will be an ongoing battle until the weeds finally get the idea that I'm not giving up. Trust me, I'm becoming a serious weed warrior.

Anyway... Every once in a while, I'll take the weed whacker out to the garden and just go for it.

Weed whacking tip: Since I haven't had time to make official, weed barrier lined paths through the conventional part of the garden yet, I regularly dig right into the soil with the weed whacker to pull up all the weeds between rows before I start digging and hand pulling. All that's left when I'm done are bare dirt paths.

This weeding technique saves me a ton of back breaking work. Since I weed whack the paths right down to the dirt, I don't have as tough a job maintaining them. It takes the weeds a lot longer to grow back than when I hand pull. I'm hoping that after time, they'll get the hint and stop returning. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Note: If you plan to follow suit with aggressive weed whacking, do take care not to get too close to your veggies or blow weed seeds into them. I know that may seem obvious, but it's easier to screw up in this department than you might think.

Hand digging and pulling

Once I get past the previous step, hopefully all I'll have left is the weeds that are close to the veggies themselves. While that sounds great and certainly shows progress, the rest is pretty daunting. I have 7 foot tall corn and 10-12 foot tall sunflowers in the garden. I also have tons and tons of other veggies. Due to the fact that I haven't been able to weed for a bit, the weeds have grown up and around all my plants. Plus, there are earwigs everywhere, also due to the rains.

Once again, I'll have to take it step by step

I'll use various garden tools to dig up the weeds that are rooted away from the veggies.

Cool vine weeding tip: The vines that are working their way up the corn stalks and winding their way around the vegetables can be clipped near the bottom with just enough vine left to grip and pull the roots from the ground. The vines attached to my veggies will dry up and fall off naturally. I won't have to worry about damaging the harvest while untangling them.

Lastly, I'll pull the rest of the weeds from the ground by hand.

I'll have to wear gloves this time.

Oh man, do I hate wearing gloves in the garden. It's sensory deprivation! But this time, I'll have no choice. The last thing I want is a bunch of angry earwigs crawling all up my arms. I've never been bitten by them, but I've heard the bites can be quite nasty. Even with the gloves, I'm a little leery of the earwigs.

Note: If you see me dancing in the garden next week, it's likely not because I'm overjoyed with the wonder of it all. I've probably got an earwig or 2 up my shirt. Come help me please.

More earwig control

I've already got some beer traps and rolled, wet newspaper out in the garden to catch the earwigs. I'll gradually replace those as I go through the rows.

Incidentally, here's a valuable earwig busting tip: If your rolled newspaper isn't catching earwigs, it's probably because it's dry. Earwigs like wet, moist layers. You can use wet rolled cardboard if you have no newspaper. This trick also works for slugs and snails.

A long stay in the garden will require some shade.

It's a good thing I have a large umbrella for just such an occasion. I'll also have to bring some water out there. Hopefully, the earwigs won't beat me to it.

It's going to be a long week of weeding.

I'll have to stay hydrated and well nourished. I've also got some grand-kid room cleaning to take care of. Now you see why I write for a living. Who has time for a “real” job?

This is real enough for me.