Gardening Lesson #2: Weeds

That mound in front of my lettuce is a huge pile of weeds.

Weed

-noun
1. a valueless plant growing wild, espeically one that growns on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop.
2. any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that growns profusely where it is not wanted: The Crowe garden was COVERED in weeds.

Johnson grass
-noun
1. a sorghum, Sorghum halepense, that spreads by creeping rhizomes, grown for fodder.
2. Ashleigh's personal nemesis.

Important sublesson #1 - weeds do not operate on my schedule.

The first time I went to the garden after a good rain and after we had gotten everything planted, it looked like a front lawn with a few vegetable plants. It was COVERED in grass. So I began pulling the grass/weeds out and soon had a substantial pile, was exhausted, and called it a day. The next morning, our Master Gardener emailed the group, introducing me to my personal nemesis, Johnson Grass. To get rid of JG you have to dig it up, because every time you break a root, a new plant starts growing. So, imagine digging up your front lawn, one clump of grass at a time. That was in May and I'm STILL digging out JG. It has totally taken over the areas of my garden where I didn't plant anything and I spend the majority of my weeding time removing JG from around the plants. In fact, the JG has gotten so big and strong on the border of my garden that I'm going to buy clippers and just clip it down and dig it out slowly each time I visit the garden. It's just too much to do in one or two visits. The roots are so strong you have to put ALL of your might into pulling the big ones out. And if you don't get the roots, your effort is in vain because it just comes back stronger than ever.

Important sublesson #2 - Weeds laugh at the concept of perfection. I have resolved myself to the idea that some weeds will co-exist in my garden.

As I've said before, our Master Gardener is really helpful in providing information, particularly to new gardeners. In May, she mentioned the concept of mulching. Of course, I put that email in the "Community Garden" folder and went about my business.

Important sublesson #3 - Listen to the Master Gardener.

After spending ours pulling weeds/grass I remembered the MG's email about mulching and shamelessly reached out to parents, friends, co-workers, asking for their (untreated) grass clippings. Luckily my Dad came through and supplied me with three big bags full of grass. Once I layed that down on the garden, it was like a new plot. Turns out, mulching REALLY does help choke out the weeds. Not the Johnson Grass, but the regular, run of the mill weeds. Which means I have more time and energy to fighting the bully that is JG. Seriously, people...mulching (you can use pine needles, lawn clippings, hay, etc.) has been my BIGGEST novice gardening victory to date. That and talking to the plants. I swear they grow when I give them some loving encouragement.