My Tiny PlotWeeding again
Do you ever look at your garden and think, what’s the point? I did the other day. I was quite shocked that such a thought could enter my mind since I’ve been so obsessed with growing vegetables on my tiny plot for the last year now. I had quite a busy day on Sunday. I spent a long time fighting weeds, edging beds and mowing grass pathways. After which I sat down and thought, ‘this is neverending, I might as well be a mouse on a wheel’. The weeds will only grow again, the grass will only take over the path again, who am I trying to please? Do I want to carry on doing this for the rest of my life? When I’m gone will people say, ‘she had a neat plot’. Will I be happy with that? I know growing vegetables is so much more than fighting weeds. It’s about growing something from seed, and then watching as your family enjoys it’s fruits. It’s about having a front row seat while the seasons change. It’s about ruddy cheeks and cold fingers when otherwise you would be sat watching Saturday morning TV. But… the relentless nature of it sometimes seems that it’s a bit futile. Come on, someone talk me into weeding again, please!
Yes, I think we all get days like this, especially as I am chief weeder on our plot. Grrr. But it’s all worth it when you sit down and munch your efforts. Take heart and just look to the harvest days!
It seems there’s a lot of weed-related despair about at the moment!
I feel sure that when you’re barbecuing your first sweet corn cobs and sipping wine down your plot then it will definitely feel worth the never-ending effort. Also I think that as we all get more expereince and are able to maximise the productivity of our plots, the weeding to harvest ratio will will tip further in the right direction. That’s what I’m hoping!
Just look! Scroll down a wee bit….look, there. Look at those gorgeous strawberries. Of course it is worth it!
Smothering those weeds will make you feel better (or boiling with hot water from the tea kettle)! I’ve elminated most grass paths this year as I hated edging & mowing them. First I put down layers of newspapers than the straw. Later I added coffee bean bags (burlap bags). I also use the bags on open spaces in the beds until the plants grow larger. May not look great yet, but saving my sanity with the weeds and grass. The bags are easy to move around and good for sitting while tending the beds. Later in the summer, I’ll just ignore the weeds trying to poke up around the larger plants. If you have larger spaces between some plants, newspapers and mulch will help cut down weeding & help hold in moisture. Of course, a little weeding is theraputic after some days!
I SO sympathise. The weeding is driving me insane as well. I long ago gave up on perfection. Impossible unless you can be at the plot all day, every day. So I live with a bit of weed and try not to get down about it. Remember this: if you weren’t weeding, you’d be doing… what? Watching TV? Surely ANYTHING is more productive than that.
No, weeding isn’t the worst thing. What gets me is diseases. My garlic has been decimated by rust and my onions are showing the starter signs of downy mildew. I could weep. I shall spray with Dithane tonight, but a) I hate spraying with anything, ever, and b) it won’t cure the mildew, only slow it down. So all my lovely onions, which I’ve weeded for months carefully, will probably still rot in store.
As I say, I could weep.
I was just about the type the same as Lisa – those strawbs are your motivation!! They are beautiful.
I try and pull up 20 weeds every time I walk through the lottie, and if I’m standing talking to someone, I’ll look down and weed as we chat. Even if it’s their plot! Makes my mate Chris laugh. But it does mean they don’t get to seed and then the new weeds won’t need weeding later and then you get to do less work next year…
:)
Thanks guys – I’m inspired. Although I just came back from a manic Hen Weekend and the weeds are back, and they brought their friends. But tonight I’m not weeding, I’m eating strawberries – all night on the sofa. That’s GOT to be worth it :)
also feeling over weeded. just how many weed seeds can their be?
next year might go for a planting through paper technique to give the real plants a head start.
It’s amazing how much faster the weeds grow than the vegetables sometimes, isn’t it? Don’t give up, though. We all feel like this sometimes, but the strawberries, the ripe tomatoes… they make it worthwhile.
I know exactly how you feel.
The Landlord was over at the weekend, making snotty comments about my weeding skills. Grrrr.
Keep going – it is worth it!
I was totally despondant last week. It felt like I was on the loosing team but like your readers say- a strawberry here and a raspberry there – a gooseberry or so (why are they such thugs with their thorns?) and a fresh salad – yes you can go to the organic farmers market and buy produce at an extortionate price for them to fight the weeds and supply the goods but somehow its just not – oh I dont know – its just not satisfying enough is it? But next year……………!
I agree the weeds are horrible. But, if you are feeding your family with lovely healthy produce at very little monitary cost – I think it’s worth it. Even if you don’t weed regularly, once the crops have started you still get a good return and its good for your health (and in my opinion your soul).
I find that every year somethings are successful and some aren’t – sometimes it’s my fault – often it isn’t.
Just go with the flow and enjoy.
If that beautiful basket of strawberries in the post below isn’t enough to keep you going, I don’t know what is. I would kill for results like that. OK maybe killing is a little strong, but you get the idea. I do agree though that weeding is a right royal pain. Love the blog, hope you don’t mind, I have linked to it from my site.
My fruit and veg plot is entirely 5 foot wide timber edged raised beds with concrete paths in between. They were double dug with plenty of added compost when constructed but haven’t seen a spade since ( 8 years to date) – as I don’t need to tread on them compressing the soil the worms do the work, I just add an annual helping of compost. An occasional light hoeing deals with weeds and all planting is just a trowel job. Because this method maintains soil fertility you can plant much more closely and/or get 2 or even 3 crops per year for a fraction of the effort of open ground cultivation. It IS moderately costly to construct in the first place (both cash and labour) but a breeze thereafter. You need less space of course so have room for a deckchair!