My Kitchen My Table

Invasion of the Crabgrass

Everything was going so well with the plot. I have been visiting every few days, watering – especially during the heat wave and watching things grow. It’s remarkable how much has happened in three weeks. The cosmos have several blooms and are filling out and getting tall, the tomatoes expanding in their cages, strawberries blooming – soon fruit will be on the way… even the lettuce seeds were popping up through the soil. The worms are also thriving. This morning I saw three long, fat, pinkish-brownish ones doing their worm thing.

I was picking around the lettuce, starting to think about thinning some of it out when I realized that not everything popping of the soil was lettuce, and upon further review, noticed that not only was it mixed in the lettuce but entwined around the cosmos, coming up from under the perimeter and springing up amongst the strawberries, lavender, and even around the base of the tomatoes.

Scratching my head with a bewildered look on my face one of the fellow gardeners walked by and said, “uhoh, looks like you have the crabgrass.” I thought oh no, who invited the crabgrass? As it turns out, before the plot was built, the ground it inhabits was full of crabgrass. In addition to the hedge of roses, the grass grew thick. When the space was cleared, borders laid, and soil spread, little did I know what lay underneath would thrive once my garden had been planted.

Now I am on a mission to control the crabgrass. I spent several hours digging out what had sprung up, following its roots that zigged and zagged all over the place. After what was in the plot was removed I attacked the surrounding path that was overrun with the stuff.

It is by no means gone but progress has been made and now I can stay on top of it although it is going to require constant battle. Later. I did some research and have learned that the best way to organically control the crabgrass is with corn gluten and of course, copious weeding. Nobody ever said this gardening was going to be easy and the crabgrass is just part of the adventure. In the meantime, the chives, parsley and thyme are also growing like weeds and the halibut marinating in the refrigerator has fresh herbs from my garden!

mkmtDIG | Comments (2)