Our gardeners weigh in
On our Flea Market Gardening Facebook page yesterday we asked you “Do you like weeding,…that is the question?? Yes…no?
A wheelbarrow is handy fr collecting weeds and acts as a hanger for my flannel shirt
We all know to have a beautiful garden, we weed. You can be philosophical about it and ask, What IS a weed? But more often, we think of the cultivated plants we love,.. and wedon’t want the plants we consider weeds to choke them out. So, here are the numbers we got:
Out of 120 people or so:
1 answered- Be serious
2 answered- Really? Then you got down to it…
28 flat out answered- No
Some of your comments…
Betty Propes no I have been pulling weeds from my flower beds for weeks and still not done –where the heck did they come from?
Valorie Cacciatore Vied No! Mainly because it is the one job that seems to overwhelm everything else. Florida climate is like fertilizer to weeds! I never catch up. Perhaps I’ll have to downsize a bit.
Nellie Estes Pulling grass is the worst
Trude Petersen Not anymore! It never ends until the season ends.
Sherry Owings No!!! But once my husband told me it was my job because it was my hobby! Um no! Haha!
Darlene Almond No!!!!
Laura Campbell Nope… Necessary evil for me!
Debbie Haer No, it used to not bother me, but I’m so paranoid about ticks the last couple years it freaks me out to get into any weeds ‘my son thinks I’m over reacting but they are bad in my yard
Sandra Straight No…….I actually hate to weed……….makes my back hurt and they just come back. Mowing is good, trimming is okay, sitting on my deck is 100% perfect!!
What IS a weed, anyway?
32 answered- Yes
Some of your comments…
BJ Schafer Weeding is good exercise. I enjoy doing it when the soil is right, easy to pull the weeds, and making the garden area so much neater. Lots of satisfaction there.
We said, “Timing is everything, right? To weed by hand the ground should be soft, to use a hoe, the ground should be hard. To spray, the weather should be sunny. Rain makes everything grow!”
Judi Davidson I do!, like my yard clean!
Carol Kobobel Yes, it’s great therapy and relaxation. Then you get to sit back and enjoy your hard work.
Kitty Hale Actually I do. It’s therapy and exercise for me. Sometimes annoying to have to repeat but I name the weeds I’m yanking out. According to the annoying people or situation in my life.
Christy Morrow It’s my number one task in my garden. It gets tiring but also gives me instant gratification.
Roxanne Lemos When my kids were little I’d go out after they went to bed and weed by the light of a Coleman lantern. It was my way to unwind and relax at the end of busy days. I know, crazy!!
FMG: I DO understand! There were these awful spurge weeds in my lawn that would spread out like a mat, choking the grass. After work, I’d sit out there, watching the kids with half an eye and pull the centers of these weeds and the whole mat would come up, to my great satisfaction!
Suzie Rodesky If you keep up on weeds, then it is not such a task. Nice to see area clean.
Rosemarie Johnson Yes but i don’t have many weeds.
Sue Paterson Don’t mind pulling weeds , it’s the clean up!!
Tina Reaume It’s part of the process and if you love the process….
Rose Robinson I do. It’s when I talk to my garden the most
Miriam Walden Kneeling is good for you!
Melissa Horton I love to weed. It gives me time to think, or not to think. whichever I need. And people leave ya alone, lest you put them to work.
Janice Marsala I actually like to weed. I get out all my aggression digging the little buggers up and flinging them! Very cathartic.
Brenda Veazey I like to work in the yard…period. If weeding happens to be the chore of the day, so be it.
Nancy Wright Any kind of work in the garden I like even weeding. The flower beds look so nice when you are done. The poison ivy I contract every year is not fun though.
Grayce Blair I don’t mind weeding….it keeps the garden beds looking fresh. Mind you, I do everything I can to keep the weeds at bay!!
Janet Connolly Yes, it’s meditative, instant gratification, puts me in touch!
Theresa Jones YES. it’s like meditation. Until you come across that one with the huge tap root. Then it’s war!
A wheelbarrow is handy fr collecting weeds and acts as a hanger for my flannel shirt
8 said: It’s therapeutic
Caryn Bateman Can’t really get around it. It’s good therapy
Barbara Bazzell Like is strong word, it can be very therapeutic.
Roseann Stamps Yes, sometimes . I tell my plants what’s bothering me an then pluck a weed an throw that problem away!
Caryn Bateman Can’t really get around it. It’s good therapy
Carol Kobobel Yes, it’s great therapy and relaxation. Then you get to sit back and enjoy your hard work.
Sue Jordan “Usually” it is therapeutic…
Billie Hayman’s ‘found’ sign ‘Garden of Weedin’
16 said, “It has to be done.”
Helen Willingham Not my favorite thing to do, however, it keeps my mind focused on the job at hand, and gives a sense of accomplishment to stand back and admire my work! Sore hands and legs the next few days though.
Teri Smith Not my favorite thing to do. But as I walk around my yard to see what new flowers are in bloom I will pull weeds if I see one. That way I’m keeping up with my weeding. I do it almost every day.
Dorrie Roper Rewarding but can be back breaking and tiresome … But try to have my garden weed free as much as possible … Loads of mulch helps too to keep weeds at bay
Bonnie Esterline No, but it is one of the most important task that we must do to have beautiful gardens. I have learned to keep up with it more on a daily basis so it isn’t such a hard task.
Linda Machann Not really, but things sure look better when you do
Paula Shockley Weeding is not as bad as raking all those leaves out of the gardens every spring. After taking, then I make the rounds to each garden area to weed which isn’t too bad. Then I make daily rounds to get a few weeds every day that I missed or that pop up. It’s not too bad that way.
Mary E Frazier no but its a necessity! darn
Sharon Ficek Only when I’m finished and my yard looks good!
Tracy Kedovary Gotta do what you gotta do to have a beautiful garden!
Lissa Jane Bitton I like the results-the process not so much.
This was a huge job,…weeding the ‘world’ it seemed
11 said, “Sometimes.”
They qualified their answers saying, ‘depends on how hard the ground is,’ ‘what type of weed’ and whether, ‘I’m in the MOOD.’
Patty Bender For about 10 minutes, then I ask myself, what did I get into? There are more than a few weeds here!
Sandy Friday I don’t mind it in spring, by August, yuck!!
Jeanne Sammons Yes … with stipulations (giggle) … especially after a nice rain
Teri Smith Not my favorite thing to do. But as I walk around my yard to see what new flowers are in bloom I will pull weeds if I see one. That way I’m keeping up with my weeding. I do it almost every day.
Lynn Marie McElroy Sometimes I do…depends on the type of weed I’m dealing with.
Tammy Martin I have a love/hate relationship with weeding. Love the fact my mind goes completely quiet when I weed.Cheaper than a Therapist! Lol! But hate it, too, because it takes up time & physical energy that I could have spent playing with flowers or garden designs !
Karen Talley I’m neither yes or no. I consider it a necessary piece of my gardening. I would be totally happy though if it magically disappear:-)
Patricia Nation Sometimes, if my bad back will let me. Not my favorite thing though.
This is the answer I liked best… Wendy Hoyle says, “I love being in my garden, no matter the reason…?”
4 Comments
I agree with Kitty Hale and Roseann Stamps – my weeding is very therapeutic, for dealing with concerns I might be having. But … mowing! …. that’s when I really “cut down” what’s/who’s bothering me! 🙂
I love weeding! I find it peaceful. I listen to the birds welcoming Spring and my wind chime on my front porch while I weed.
Shhhh I am 87 years and I still am weeding in my garden…like it or love it it keeps me in shape!!!!
When I was a kid, I was absolutely sure that my parents had children so they’d have a free crew to pull weeds in their fledgling nursery. (Picking rocks in the field was another summertime misery.) My dad, a professional landscaper, even had big illustrated charts for identifying weeds on his office wall. And, of course, from starting seeds in the greenhouse, I learned at an early age to identify almost any flower or vegetable plant almost from the moment it germinated. Back then, I vowed that when I grew up, pulling weeds would be a job for “somebody else.” HAH! My old-fashioned cottage garden is “staffed by volunteers” — varieties that reseed themselves prodigiously around the “garden junk” artifacts that I love, and I wouldn’t even think of trusting anyone else — even my husband — with pulling weeds or any of the other garden chores, for fear that any desirable seedling would be trampled or pulled. And, yes,. I have found that this once-hated chore is, indeed, therapeutic, and, as Margie Olson pointed out, it keeps me in shape, too.