It’s not always roses, winecups, sunflowers and fresh salads around here. As much as we enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds us, we are also in the habit of controlling it to a degree. We have an esthetic that nature doesn’t always agree with. Nature seems to have a preference for quack grass for example. We disagree. Nature also seems to have a soft spot for bull thistle and burdock. Again, we beg to differ. And that means there are days where measures must be taken.

Burdock is an invasive biennial. In it’s first year it produces large rhubarb-like leaves. This is the best time to spray them (if you are into chemicals and not too close to plants you want to preserve). We neglected to spray anything at the right time, so we move directly to step two: don’t let the second year plants bloom. In its second year, burdock produces an impressively large stalk with many side branches -  the tips of which are packed with clusters of purple flowers. The blooms are indeed attractive, but once dry, the seed pods (burs) are annoyingly clingy – super velcro that sticks to hair, hats, gloves, pets, clothes…everything!

I spent the better part of two days engaged in battle with these giant stalks. I’ll spare you the graphic description of the carnage. Burdock is a bit of a pacifist (the tap root even has medicinal properties) and rarely put up a fight. My weapon of choice is a machete, but large loppers work nicely too.  At times, I felt like Don Quixote engaged in battle with windmills – the futility of my efforts do not go unnoticed. There were many young plants that will return next year and many last-year burs I saw along the way.

It’s almost a zen job. There is just enough concentration required that I can’t seem to think about other things. Only grasses and pig weed fill my mind as I make my way down the row. It’s almost as if my mind fills more with weeds as I remove them from the rows of grapes. I remain uncertain if either mind or vines are improved for my efforts. But the vines certainly look better. Aesthetics are important.

This was my morning. It was calm and reflective, but now my fingers are raw from pulling. And my fingernails are bent – I should have cut them before I started pulling weeds. 

That’s a good two wheelbarrows full of crab grass and other invasive trespassers. But mostly crab grass. It was out of control. And it was invading our beans and cucumbers and volunteer tomatoes and even the asparagus a little. All is well now. Except for my fingers. 

It’s all about the learning. And we have much to learn. We had this new, large garden area tilled at the beginning of spring. Since then, it has been raining and we hadn’t done much to the new bed. Anne moved some of the “must-be-moved” perennials from around the septic tank and tried to plant a few day lilies here, but the quack grass proved too dense.

Some quick web research pointed to solarization as the answer. With 4-6 mil clear plastic (not black plastic) covering the area for 4-8 weeks, we can expect to smother all the grass and weeds. It’s a bit of an experiment. In the picture above you can see the strip of plastic with edges buried. The day lilies were relocated, but the perennials remained with the addition of some fabric and mulch – they ought to be able to battle it out. The strip of plastic is only 8 feet wide, so we bought another wider roll. Good thing Anne bought a new shovel.

On the drive home today, Michele Norris of NPR – All Things Considered fame, related a story about her garden and the invasive Purple Loosestrife found within. It was a nice little piece, both entertaining and informative – can’t ask for much more than that. Of course, I got to thinking of all the burdock and thistle that awaits us this year. There are some rather large patches to be contained. We will likely resort to chemicals — at least for those that are far far away from the veggies. Another resource listed along with the NPR story was a link to the governments Invasive Species list.