Weeding

I spent 10 minutes in the evening yesterday using a chop stick to clean out weeds that had sprouted between the Long Red Florence onions and garlic (all 32 of which have now sprouted!). I had to be judicious because there are seeds that have not yet sprouted. But where it was clear to do so, I would wiggle the chop stick between the plants and uproot the weed seedlings. I find the chop stick is actually a decent tool for doing this.

I spent the morning cleaning out the garden area. The walkways had become choked with dead grasses and marigold vines. My goals are to finally finish the last of the three raised beds and to clean out the strawberry beds that have become overrun with things other than strawberries.

I used my bow rake to pretty good advantage and got a bit of a workout to boot. The paths are at least now walkable. Every year, in fact, practically every month, I make a deeply considered commitment to fight grass and weeds. Then, they sneak up on me. Despite the fact that Monsanto is known to just about everyone as the evil empire, I understand why Round-up is popular.

Even though marigold vines are pernicious, when you pull them out, they come. At least today they came without also pulling out the strawberries. The other benefit is that other weeds did not seem to get a start there. Still, I should be more diligent in the future and just keep them down from the start.