Some Summer Weeding

 (From August of 2000)


After the Friday night/Saturday morning downpour, it was finally dry enough Sunday afternoon to do a little catching up with the garden work.  It was hot and humid, but there is certainly no better time to weed than after a big rain.

There was an interesting little ecosystem in operation in our garden.  The usual bugs were there to eat the plants.  Toads and frogs were hopping around, looking for bugs to eat.  A snake surprised us, and we him.  He was looking for toads and frogs.  The only thing missing was an eagle to pick up the snake. 

I wish there was something to eat the rabbits that have been nibbling on things.  I wouldn't want to be around when it happened, but I'd just as soon not have those rabbits around.  The "No Rabbit" signs haven't done any good at all.

Weeding a garden is not anybody's favorite job, I don't think.  I enjoy doing a little of it, but the problem is that it tends to be addictive, because there is always another weed to pull, no matter how many you remove.

There is a certain weed...  I have a name for it that I can't repeat in polite company.  It starts as a very cute little dark green leaf, and insidiously grows to near bush size.  I'm told the real name is Purslane, and it is a succulent type of weed.  I'm also told that they are edible.  Right.  They make me sick!  But, seriously, they are edible.

The most maddening thing about these little plants is that they make it impossible for you to pull out the roots, and like the mythical hydra, for every plant you break off, two grow back.

There are other weeds against which I have a personal vendetta.  Velvet leaf is one.  I read once that the seed pod of a Velvet Leaf weed remains viable for 70 years.  In other words, you could spend a whole lifetime pulling Velvet Leaf weeds out of your garden, and just as you were about to die happy, knowing you had eliminated the weed, up would pop a few dozen new ones.  It isn't fair.

Every spring it's the same.  We'll keep up with the weeds.  We'll mulch.  We'll spray Round-up in the fall.  And every year when late summer rolls around, we find that we've lost the battle again.

So far this year, we're still in control.  But, part of what comes from aging is the wisdom that you're never really in control of anything. 

Tomorrow I'll be sore from weeding.  By next Sunday, the garden will be covered with new recruits.  I'll be there to  do what I can. 

If anybody feels that they need some extra weeds, I'd be happy to bring some over.  Or, if  anyone feels that pulling weeds would make a nice break from their routine of sipping iced tea on the veranda, give me a call.


I am an introvert who seeks recognition, but only a little bit. I live in Southern Wisconsin and yes, I do enjoy cheese and a half-dozen or so beers each year. Somehow I found someone willing to marry me back in 1976, and so far so good. We have children and grandchildren and they are all really something.

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