Saturday, May 25, 2013

Life in the Land of Weeds

Everyone has gardening bugaboos, and mine is weeds.  I guess that weeds are the bete noir of many gardeners. I purchased four yards of loam this spring, and once it warmed up a bit I find that my soil is host to a large number of germinating weeds. Lambs quarters, purslane, and smart weed seem to be the most plentiful. Lambs quarters and purslane are edible, smart weed apparently has some medicinal uses. I am still going to pull them out, although it turns out that lambs quarters are delicious and the gleanings will surely find their way into salads.  The peas and beans are up. I may have left the planting a bit late for the peas, but since the weather continues cool I am hoping for the best. My bif plans for tomorrow will consist mostly of a trip to the dump and several hours of crawling around pulling up weeds while they are tiny and submissive and before they get big enough to give my more desireable plants a run for their money. My main enemy this season will be squirrels. Due to a heavier than usual acorn crop last fall I seem to have four squirrels living in my yard - two adults and two juveniles. They are all fat as stoats and bold as brass.

The Enemy

3 comments:

lacochran's evil twin said...

Fat yes. Bold yes. Photogenic? Yes. :)

Xtreme English said...

"Bold as Brass!" I haven't heard that since the last time I saw my mother-in-law. That was one of her pet expressions.

Xtreme English said...

P.S. When we went camping with the kids, we used to harvest and cook a big pot of lamb's quarters. Even the kids loved lamb's quarters, and this weed has more vitamins than any of the greens in the markets. Problem now is finding weeds that haven't been sprayed with pesticides.