Get To Know Your Weeds
Just about all gardeners want to minimize weeds (undesired plants) and maximize desired plants in their garden beds. That helps our garden beds keep to our vision and look cared for. One of the most important lessons I have learned over the years is to get to know my weeds…what their seeds look like (important if you have trees that drop large amounts of seeds), what the seedlings look like and at what time of the year they come up. This allows you to avoid inadvertently adding the seeds to your garden bed or compost pile and allows you to pull them before they establish a root system.
For example, my neighbors have a beautiful American Elm (Ulmus americana) tree. Unfortunately, it drops an incredible amount of seeds each Spring (March/April)…much of which falls into my driveway. For years, when cleaning my driveway, I would either blow it into the beds along the driveway or add it to my compost pile. Not knowing what the seedlings were when they came up, I wouldn’t pull them out until they were 6”+ little Elm trees.
Management became much simpler once I recognized that the fallen seeds were Elms. Instead of blowing them into beds or compost piles, I sweep it and put it into my lawn waste bags. This immediately reduces the seeds that will come up into those beds. The next step was learning what the seedling looks like after it germinates and when it germinates. In the case of American Elm seedlings, they appear April-May. So if it’s April/May, I am alert for any sprouting Elm seedlings and pull them before they reach a meaningful size. Because I know what an Elm seedling looks like, I am confident that I am not pulling a seedling from a desired plant like a Penstemon or Stoke’s Aster.
American Elm Seed
American Elm Seedling
The same principles can be applied to the management of just about every weed that generates from seed. If it’s late January through March and you see bright light green grass sprouting up, it’s most likely Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua) or if you see a shiny light green grass-like plant rapidly appear in April/May, it’s most likely Yellow Nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and it should be dealt with before it starts spreading.
