Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Spring is Finally Here!

I'm not usually very good at gardening, although I grew up with a large garden, yet every year I give it another try. You see, I have a small yard that is taken over every year by invasive weeds. I've been trying for years to rid my yard of creeping buttercups, morning glory/strangle weed, black berries, horsetails and dandelions.

I have tried digging them out, dousing them with boiling water, vinegar, using a garden fork to pull out the main roots, but to no avail. I usually try do do things chemical free both inside and outside my house. Last summer I finally caved and used Round Up to kill the morning glory and buttercups. It seems to have worked better than anything else so far.

I Also researched how to discourage these plants from taking over again, especially since they are native to this part of the country and are thus very resilient.

I Was able to find an old article from an early 1900s Farmers Almanac that suggested planting peas or alfalfa (which I later learned are related) to combat the morning glory. curiously enough peas had been the only crop to survive my previous attempts at growing a vegetable garden. So, I went out and bought several varieties of peas and some alfalfa seed. The peas have been planted and I'm busy clearing all of the dead vines and salmon berry canes in order to plant more. Alas, as I was moving garden refuse I noticed that there are some very young buttercup sprouts growing. Ugh! 

Back to the drawing board...

I Love plants and am specifically interested in plant medicine and traditional plant medicine. I will use this blog to keep track of my gardening adventure this year. Pictures will come soon! Thanks for reading.