First weed of the year

[patandchickens]

We've had near-continual snow cover since mid November.

Today, we got the Big Spring Thaw (including the most flooding we've ever had here, I have bailed the barn sumps SO many times as the pump is broken and cleared SO many ditches I just do not want to move ever again).

Finally, as of about lunchtime today, the snow is mostly gone.

I took a break from flood-managment activities to walk round the yard and toss pine boughs on newly exposed perennials. Also checked to see if the garlic is up yet in the veg garden. It isn't.

But some mustard-family weed is.

Its flowers were just opening.



Someone should just collect all the peskiest weeds and embark on a selection program to develop attractive cultivars outta them, it would make gardening EVER so much simpler than trying to grow non weedy plants!


Pat

 

[digitS']

Pat, this is the 1st nice afternoon after all sorts of stormy weather . Still very cool - the warmest it's been so far this year is 52F, about 3 weeks ago - whoop-de-do! With hours of sunshine this afternoon, it made it to 40 .

Anyway, I felt that the sweet onion plants that arrived nearly 2 weeks ago just HAD to go out and so prepared a couple beds and DW planted them. A muddy mess but with so much gravel in the soil here - it almost isn't possible to make a "clod" out of this dirt!

The beds I worked on were the ones NOT covered with snow. About 25% of the area was snow-covered. I can't remember arriving before the snow is gone before AND this is the latest I've started cultivation in over 10 years!

I actually found a chickweed bloom but the problem with those weeds is that I can't be sure if it bloomed in 2008 or 2007. There was only one so I won't worry about it.

Our earliest blooming weed is white flowered filaree . It has to be the most inconsequential weed around. Extremely shallow-rooted and tiny, tiny, tiny. The purple-stemmed filaree almost amounts to a weed but its little white cousin grows only on my hard-packed garden paths. Usually, it is blooming when I show up sometime in March. By the time I walk on it twice - it disappears !

Steve

 

[bills]

Someone should just collect all the peskiest weeds and embark on a selection program to develop attractive cultivars outta them, it would make gardening EVER so much simpler than trying to grow non weedy plants!
Pat

I have thought that would be a good idea as well. There are times when some of the weeds produce big healthy blooms and foilage, and are actually quite pretty. I had some huge dandelions blossoming in my yard, dozens of bright yellow blossoms. I almost hated to kill them.

 

[aquarose]

Hey Bills. I almost like dandelions too. I have pondered actually trying to seed my backyard with them. My backyard is so shady that grass is difficult to grow and my yard is dirt all winter. In spring I anticipate the annual weeds like broadleaf plantain so at least the yard will have something growing on it. I thought maybe dandelions would at least be green all winter and perennial.