Last year had lots of problems and the garden suffered. The result is that now I am growing weeds.
Doing a little weeding isn’t a problem. It can be relaxing sitting there in the garden in the sun letting the mind wander. A few weeds are to be expected.
Weed Overload
What is in my garden right now is a weed overload. There are lots of weeds that start growing in the fall and do their best to take over by spring.
Other weeds are perennials. These are harder to find as they spend the winter as roots hidden in the soil waiting for warm weather before exploding up.
Tackling the Overload
It’s really easy to be overwhelmed by the growing weeds. This is part of their strategy for success. There are so many, the gardener gives up and they can take over.
Unfortunately for the weeds, I am too stubborn to yield my garden to them. So, I have to have a strategy to avoid the overwhelm.
Since my garden is divided into beds and pathways, I target a section at a time. When I get too stressed, I focus on places with only a few weeds. Or I do a strip across a bed just a foot wide.
The objective of any weeding strategy is to make enough progress against the weeds each time to feel successful. Then it’s easier to come back the next day.
Growing Weeds for Food
Chickweed is one of the overwintering weeds. It has colonized the Jerusalem artichoke bed along with much of the garden.
This is one of the wild greens filled with nutrition. It has a mild taste and is good in salads, stir fries and other ways. And it is always nice to have some fresh garden greens in the middle of winter.
However, chickweed is a miniature kudzu. Left alone it smothers everything around it and produces thousands of seeds.
Spring will be vegetable growing time. Growing weeds is not part of this. So, some of the chickweed will end up on the dinner table. Most will end up in the compost pile.