A day of weeding


Today has been a glorious sunny autumnal day.  It started with frost but that soon thawed away leaving a bit of soggy but sunny lovely day.  It took me a while to get outside this morning, I had a carpet to finish cleaning which turned into quite a long session of carpet cleaning as I got a bit carpet-cleaner-happy.  Anyway, when I reached the point that there was no dry carpet on stand on I decided I really should stop and go outside.

I needed to get outside.  I did not get to see much of my garden last weekend and as I only see it at weekends this time of year (dark when I leave the house, dark when I return) I was feeling in real need of some good garden time.  Yesterday I planted out the wallflowers that needed transplanting to their final home but I mainly just faffed around in a faffy sort of way.  Today I decided I needed to focus and get down to some serious weeding.

I like weeding as it serves several purposes.  Obviously it removes weeds, I hesitate a little before using the word weed as the old cliche 'a weed is just a plant in the wrong place' is indeed true.  So many of the weeds that I remove on a routine basis are Stipa Tenuissima seedlings, purple orache, teasels and ox-eye daisies.  These are all plants I am fond of but they need keeping in their place, of course their view of where their place is differs considerably to mine!

I also suffer from the belief that every weed removed today saves me 100 weeds in the Spring, I have no idea if this is true, but it is a belief that sustains me as I weed on a cold damp day.

I also find that weeding is about observing and checking.  I can see what is coming up, what is happening where.  So after today I know that my iris are on the way up already, I also know that there are a myriad of nigella seedlings already rampaging around.  Both of these things make me happy.

Weeding serves another crucial purpose.  It gives me time to clear my mind and just think about the weeding, I can focus on what I am doing and just concentrate on the garden and what it is doing.  It makes me reconnect with the garden in a very real way and that is what I needed this weekend, I needed to feel that I know what is happening in the garden and that all is well. 

So the garden has fewer weeds in it now (it can never be weed-free, anyway, I still have the prairie borders and the veg beds to tackle) and I feel back in touch with the garden.

All is well.
postscript:  if you ever decide to find out about the Patron Saint of Weeding: a word to the wise, internet searches appear to mainly give results for the Patron Saint of Weed, which is not the same thing at all.

Comments

  1. Ah this made me laugh, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too was in need of some garden time this weekend. It was a wonderful day, did lots of leaf collecting and weeding. As you say its a chance to get to really see the garden and I havent taken time over the garden for ages so it was wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha! Excellent!

    Glad you got outside - you're right about getting back in touch with the garden. I also enjoy accidentally unearthing bulbs while I'm weeding, just to see if there is any hope of spring.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is something deeply therapeutic about weeding, which is ironic, as I hated it when my parents used to make me do it! It is a great way to still the mind and connect with the garden, and just notice what is going on. And, as you say, has a useful side effect of getting rid of "weeds"! Though I also rather enjoy faffing time i the garden, so to me it sounds as if you has the perfect weekend! Apart from the carpet cleaning, that is...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are approved before being published