8.5.12

Country Girl at Heart

     There are weeds in my garden. My husband tilled and fenced a garden plot especially for me. The kids helped me plant each row with seeds and plants. We carefully labeled each row to help us know what to expect. But weeds grow quickly. At first, I couldn't distinguish the weeds from the real plants that grew from seeds. I got excited about every green sprout. I watered my little plot when there wasn't rain and thanked God when there was. The garden grew. The weeds grew, too.

     Unable to identify weeds, I let them grow. Until one day my husband declared that the weeds in my garden were so high that a snake could be under them and I wouldn't know. A very real possibility as that same week he killed five on the pond bank (a fact which was shared with me by my son after I walked across the pond bank wearing flip flops on my feet!) That left me with weeds in my garden and now a bit of fear of what else could be lurking there unseen.

     This morning, I pulled on my big pink boots and opened the garden gate. Tall weeds are identifiable, easily distinguishable from the cucumber vines covered with little yellow flowers. Closest to the fence, the first row had fewer weeds. I had planted cabbages from plants, and was able to tell clearly what was vegetable there. But further in, where the seeds and the weeds grew simultaneously, that part might as well be called a weed patch. I tentatively stepped into the jungle of weeds and began to pull. Cathartic, this weeding job. I looked, untwisted cucumber vines from the weeds where I could, and pulled. I threw the weeds high and over the garden fence. I found two tiny cucumbers growing on the vines. I took another step, careful to not step on the little broccoli plant. I leaned down and pulled more. A few plants were uprooted in this pulling. There are still weeds in my garden but not as many as before.

     Now inside, sipping my honey vanilla chamomile tea, my itchy skin soothed with lotion, and my allergies calmed with antihistamine, I'm thinking about weeds. They blend in at first, and they grow fast. They overshadow the plants, blocking the sun. They slow down growth. But they can be pulled earlier. Next year, this city girl turned country girl will know just a little bit more about identifying weeds. I'll pull them earlier when I can recognize them. I'd rather grow vegetables and fruit.
Jennifer

4 comments:

  1. I so know what you mean about snakes. We killed 3 rattlesnakes last year around the house, so tall grass is a real worry!

    Blessings!
    Susan

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  2. Very good post. We have still been a little cool to plant our garden, but we still have weeds growing where just a few weeks ago we prepared the soil. Weeds tend to take over and steal the show if we aren't careful.

    Tend your garden gently and well! :-)

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  3. Susan, any kind of snake scares me.

    Thanks, Garden Tenders. We pulled more weeds today. 6 hands did so much more work than two. Now we can see the ground- and there were no snakes!

    Lady bugs and other bugs, spiders, one lizard- but no snakes, yay!

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  4. Ugh Snakes! I hate snakes! And we have some very tall grass (hay)growing in our yard right now. It's really going to take a weedeater to get it cut. It's in a part of our yard that we neglect (we have a large yard) and I really need to get working. Thanks for the reminder.

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