Reducing Weed Loads

     

Weed loads—I have been pondering weeds lately as I face the daunting task of bringing the school garden into some sort of order. It’s hard—a focused group of three to five people, working for a couple of hours every week would whip it into shape in no time, but…we all have lives- -and gardens-- outside of school and commitment is difficult. Especially when it comes to blackberry brambles.  It’s not like the garden is a weed patch; the actual beds are in pretty good order, weeded, mulched, and irrigated only around the crops. It’s the edges and paths, and the unique challenges of nut sedge, a lush green grassy looking weed which has a nasty little nodule that needs to be removed to kill it, that are a challenge.  I find myself making little lists in my mind before I fall asleep.

Weed Suppression techniques:

1.       Weed and mulch with cardboard and chips: Very effective in the short term and looks really nice when done. However, I have a deep and abiding suspicion that, long term, I am creating a really nice bed for some deep rooted weeds.

2.       Mowable paths: Looks nice and is pretty easy to maintain. Do the weeds creep into the beds more easily? Probably.

3.       Dry and trampled paths: This happens naturally over time with heavy foot traffic, especially during mud season. It is cheap and easy to maintain, once the irrigation is set up, but does it look very good?

4.    

   Preferred invasives: I used this one a great deal—plant things I like to push out what I don’t. Or don’t weed out what is spreading. Calendula flowers. Mints. Mustard and amaranth. Lady’s Mantle. Sunflowers. Fennel. Pollinators love it but it can get out of control – but is it worse than the nut sedge?

5.       Densely planted perennial beds: Similar to method four, this method depends upon crowding out the plants we do not want in favor of ones that we do. With drought tolerant herbs, this can be very effective, but takes a few years to establish.

6.       Constant weeding: Deep sigh….needed, but takes a great deal of time and effort. Should be saved for focused areas.

7.       Weed-whacking: Improves the area in the short term, but does not eliminate the problem. And that string is a pain!

8.       This is a food farm, not a flower garden: Rethinking expectations to match the area. I do this at home. Everything does not have to be perfect to be beautiful and productive.

Four of Wands, Reversed

   

     The Four of Wands, reversed. Every cross quarter day, I pull on card from the tarot, using it to guide the coming six weeks. On May Day, I pulled the four of wands, which is a celebratory card of people dancing under an arbor of flowers. It looks like a wedding, but it is open to interpretation. Even reversed, it is positive, just more low key. And this has been the tone of the last few weeks, as Benton County moves slowly, cautiously, out of the pandemic. Over 69% of the eligible population is vaccinated, so we are able to gather safely, in quiet celebration.

High school classes have been in person for a month and students are smarter and more focused, even as the entire class is vaccinated and they begin to slip snacks under their masks, pound each other on the back, and stare at the same computer once more. They gather outside for lunch, perching on the bleachers like flocks of birds, all talking at once. We had an outdoor choir concert with senior solos, Mary’s Peak in the background, on Thursday night and graduation on Saturday morning. Together. There were hugs. Shouts. Laughter. Some tears. Small celebrations.

At home, we have been visiting with friends, botanizing prairies and peaks, riding together in the same car.  We have eaten meals together—outside, still, but outside in June is beautiful.  There is talk of a pie social, of gathering to work on bike codes, of being together once again. The library is opening up for browsing on the Summer Solstice. We can see faces when we go for walks. Once again, small celebrations.

We will not know the total losses from the year- -from the isolation, from the pandemic, from the wildfires—for a long while. I expect to stumble over our losses for at least a year; a trail or business closed, a friend’s family member lost to the virus, an acquaintance   to the culture wars…losses we do not know now. So, moving onward, there is no huge celebration, like I imagine there might be after winning a war. We did not win this war, we merely survived. That, however, is worth a small celebration.