Yesterday we were about to leave for a trip we were all looking forward to, the kids were in the car, and I said “Let me just check one thing, don’t worry, I won’t weed!” As I ran around the back of the house to check the garden, I realized that I am addicted to weeding.
Weeding? Really? an addiction? I realized that it’s practically impossible for me to walk by the garden, the strawberry patch or even the front without pulling out a few weeds. And if I pull out a few, then I have to pull a few more, and a few more.
Now the trouble with this particular addiction, is that it’s one of those double-edged swords, tricky kind of things. Weeding is good. It helps the garden grow better. We get a more bountiful harvest, at least, when we don’t let the weeds overtake the plants, we can find the vegetables. When we don’t weed the strawberry patch weeds and violets can take over and crowd out the strawberry plants. Sometimes our front yard doesn’t get weeded and it just plain looks bad. We have a bunch of bushes with mulch in between and sometimes the weeds overtake the bushes, frequently a crab-grass variety spreads like crazy. So yes, weeding is good, and it needs to be done, particularly in our yard.
I used to use weeding as a bit of therapy. We’d come home from work and daycare and Jon would start dinner while I spent some time weeding. I’d think about things that had frustrated me at work and take it out on the weeds. That was good for the garden and good for me. Sometimes I’d weed until it got dark, or Jon nagged me to come in.
Now our schedule is so sporadic, and there is so much to do at our house, that I really feel like I’m stealing time when I weed. I still find it therapeutic, and I figure that it’s good exercise too. However, I find that I go out to check on the garden, and instead of just picking a cucumber or adjusting a vine, I find myself pulling out “just one weed”, then just one more… I think to myself, I shouldn’t get my hands dirty, I have to go out shortly. Then, I’m digging in to pull out the roots and I have dirt under my nails, so I figure “why not a little more?” It’s so satisfying to see the bare earth where there had formally been clods and clods of weeds. The garden looks better I know it’s healthier.
The only problem is now the kids are fighting, I haven’t written a blog post, the laundry isn’t done, dinner isn’t made and it is past bedtime. Addiction or ardent gardener? What do you think?
Happy Greening,
Alicia
Wow. That’s quite an addiction. It certainly could be worse. Wish I had just a small amount of that addiction. The weeds are literally taking over our yard!
Yep that is me as well. Once I start I can’t stop, I get totally obsessed by it. But like you said (other than the blog post – I don’t blog) all those things wouldn’t get done.
Wow, I really wish I had that problem. Our garden would be gorgeous! I’m afraid my weeding is a necessity that I force myself to do, lol. Feel free to come visit our garden mid-summer next year!
Hey, that’s not so bad! Reminds me of when I am in a “clean” mood and can’t help but pick up little things laying around when I walk by.
This sounds like a pretty good addiction to have. 😉 Once I start weeding, I usually can’t stop either. It just feels so productive!
This cracks me up. I am the exact same way. To the point where if I can’t spend some time weeding, I have to totally avoid looking at my front yard. This may be TMI, but I am completely obsessed with baby boogers. I can’t stand when I hear my baby snuffling. I have been known to wrestle a 18 month old so I can pick its nose.
WOW, someone likes to weed. LOL
I don’t have a garden now or backyard (live in a condo) but I am sure once we sell and buy a house with a yard I will be addicted to weeding!
God, grant me the serenity to accept the weed I cannot pull, the courage to pull the weeds I can and the wisdom to know pretty weeds from ugly ones.
It’s everything I can do to stop from reaching into that photo and pulling those weeds… What a wonderful obsession – time in nature is so healthful. I wonder whether organic gardeners will let us volunteer to weed their fields.