The downside of the rain

Hot weather, a little sun and a lot of rain combine to produce one thing in the garden above all else: weeds. I feel like they are growing as fast — no, faster — than I can manage to pull them out. I've just finished — for the moment — the mossy open space in the midst of the fence-line border of big yew and box balls. I am thinking this may be the perfect spot to put my new Larch tree. 

The ferns and moss all arrived in this spot on their own and I've let them do as they please. This is a spot that is almost always damp and easy to weed. That means, of course, that weeds also grow here just as easily. Over the years I've tried to eradicate all the invasive plants in the garden. Alas, almost all of them seeded over the fence to the garden on the other. A steady stream of new home owners means the plants on their side of the fence are more often than not out of control. So they all reseed and come back to this space to haunt me along with the plain old weeds. 

The further along the fence you go, the denser the weeds and the tighter the area to work in. We will be taking out this ancient lilac whose dying trunks fill this area. So maybe I will be able to permanently cross off the chore of removing lilac suckers, even if general weeding continues. Since all the evergreen "balls" need annual pruning on all sides, I can't really fill these weedy spaces with a ground cover since it is necessary to walk in here to prune and do fence maintenance. Thus I don't see weeding this area as a job that will ever disappear until the evergreens are so big they fill the space and keep everything else out. Or until I figure out a ground cover that will grow here and can be walked on with impunity.

In the meantime, an overabundance of rain and cloudy skies in June are keeping the weeds happy and colonizing a new space as soon as I clear one. 

Comments

[Barbara H.]

You've written my own tale of woe about weeds, weeds and more weeds. Good luck with your eradication journey - I don't think it ever ends.

[Loree / danger garden]

The weeds in that last photo look a lot like basil, now that would be a joy to have a volunteer crop of!

[Nell]

Think of it as "exhausting the seed bank"...

[Lisa at Greenbow]

I feel your pain. We haven't had so much rain but the heat has kept me inside so much that the weeds are taking advantage. UGH... We have had a break which has given me a chance to catch up. Yet the next 10 days or so are to be in the 90's with 100degree heat indexes. UGH... Back inside I will go. A vicious cycle.

[Peter/Outlaw]

On the bright side, all those weeds give you an excuse to be outside working around all the interesting plants in your gorgeous garden.