Weeding

There is a variety of weed that just proliferates in my garden during the winter. It starts as a small little thing and then just takes over. It has been too cold lately to get out in the morning or evening after I have come home from work. But today was a beautiful Saturday and so I made it my mission to get at least some of the weeding done.

My first task was to select a tool. I tried weeding the other day entirely by hand and didn't get too far. I need something that will go between the onions and garlic that are planted 4" apart. I've asked my creative with metal daughter-in-law, Leora, to see if she can make me something. But I realized I had tools at home that I should at least attempt to use. Kitchen forks are tools. I selected three from the arsenal to try things out with. The small fork was from our camping gear. I think it was an odd fork that we never threw away. The middle fork came from an old army mess kit. I really like it for peeling potatoes. I cook potatoes in the microwave for a couple of minutes and then use the tines to rip off the potato skin. It works really well for that purpose. The big fork is a serving fork.


As I tried each fork, it became obvious quickly that the serving fork was best suited to the job. The garlic and long red Florence onions were planted last and had the fewest weeds. I was able to clean up the soil and get weeds disturbed in those areas quickly. The yellow of Parma had been planted much longer. It took a lot of time to clean out that bed and I only got half way through it today. The photos below are before and after shots.