Be Picky: The Power of Weeding

Cooler days, softer soil… what a wonderful time to pull weeds!  Sure, it’s also a good time to plant seeds, construct a new compost bin, move my worms back outside, and more, in part because I’m spending less time watering, and because it’s just plain gorgeous outside this fall.  I still relish weeding.  Because of the abundance of vegetation after recent rains, I get to be picky about what stays. 

As I shared last month, plants that survive with minimal care from me generally get to stay – and therefor spread if they’re so inclined.  Some spread too well!  The previous owners of my house went for low-maintenance gravel and cactus.  My husband and I intentionally added some softer shrubs, and at first indiscriminately pulled plants that appeared on their own.  We were soon faced with the choice of spraying to keep up, letting the weeding go undone, or pulling what we had time for and leaving the rest.  Better yet, because I actually like the physical act of weeding, 

the choice was left to me.  I personally select for plants that meet one or more personal criteria: recovery from drought, lack of pokey or sticky seeds; elements of wildlife habitat; and cheerful flowers or other points of beauty.  Your criteria can be as unique as you are. 

Too much of a good thing

I go by the definition that a weed is simply a plant growing where you don’t want It to grow.  So I decided this summer to allow the original two Mexican Bird of Paradise in our yard to stay, plus four volunteers that were either well-established or provided useful shade.  The rest I either pulled as weeds or repotted for class materials.  Similarly, the siratro vine that went from one to hundreds had to be culled.  Most that I pulled got repurposed in my compost pile, and some got domesticated in pots.  It’s a really cool plant, but as a legume at least the surplus can contribute nitrogen to new soil.  I encourage brittlebush on some steep slopes as erosion control, against a west-facing wall to absorb heat, and as an accent outside my kitchen window.  Other individuals go, sure to return should I need more.  I especially encourage my desert marigolds and desert senna, with flowers as smile-inducing as brittlebush but with lower profile foliage.  Those I only pull if they crowd the public sidewalk.

Too sticky or sharp

Some weeds I pull and put in trash with glee – spiderlings with sticky stems and seeds, and needle grama, with notorious stick-in-your-socks seeds (pictured in title image).  Sure, the grama’s native.  In my yard it counts as a weed.  In the spring, the same goes for fiddlenecks and popcorn flowers.  I have learned to keep the native summer poppies and remove the related, non-native and awfully-sharp goatheads.  Being picky has paid off.  Each year, the less desirable weeds lessen in number. 

Wildfire risk

If it’s an invasive species that also increases wildfire risk, it definitely goes.  Fountain grass and buffelgrass pop up in my yard regularly, and I stay diligent in removing them after having written a wildfire paper and volunteering on a buffelgrass pull.  When I miss one, my neighbor catches it while walking her dog, for which I am grateful.  Pima County also has information and volunteer opportunities for controlling buffelgrass.

Mostly harmless

Then there are plants that spread without harm to myself or the desert, and I choose to keep, at least for a while.  The cheerful and prolific thimbleheads feed the finches more reliably that any bird feeder I might put out.  I thin the plants when the bees get too intense by the porch, or I just want some more space.  Purslane is another fun weed.  It is edible, sparkly, cool to the touch, and soft on feet.  I pulled a heap out last week only because it was starting to dry out.  But I let it go to seed first with no worries, OK to have it return next year. 

The list could go on.  Elsewhere, I’ve written of the physical satisfaction of removing weeds and the role weeds have played in growing my love of gardening.  Here, take a moment to consider the power of being picky that weeding provides.  What goes?  What stays?  What puts you in your place when you let it go to seed and suffer prickly consequences?  What rewards you with a booming population because you removed some other competition?  Happy weeding, and happy cool season gardening too!