• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Gardening
    • Butterfly Gardens
    • Home Garden Tips
    • Seed Starting
    • Compost and Fertilizer
    • Raised Bed Gardening
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Pests & Problems
  • Plants
    • Plant Profiles
    • House Plants
    • Vegetables
    • Fruit
    • Herbs
    • Growing Flowers
  • Garden to Table
    • Easy Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
  • Seasonal Living
    • Home for the Holidays
    • Birds and Wildlife
    • Vintage Finds
  • Shop
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
    • Herbalism Classes
    • Books by Jeanne Grunert
  • About
    • Privacy Policy

Victory Over Weeds

July 21, 2009 by Jeanne

Crabgrass is evil. It invaded my flower garden. I have never seen such an invasion. Yes, I was behind in my weeding – but this was ridiculous!

It grew on the pathways. It’s overtaken the flower beds. It springs up overnight. It is growing among the gravel in the driveway, along the rocks lining the beds. It grows everywhere.

There are more weeds. Nature provides great variety.

Weeds with big thorns. Vining weeds with little thorns. Weeds that gave me a rash all over my arms and made me itch all over (and no, it’s not poison ivy. Poison ivy doesn’t make me itch. This was something else.)

I managed to lean across my creeping juniper and gave myself a wicked juniper rash. I looked like someone had rolled me in mud, then rubbed red paint on my arms with some white dots in between. That was after Saturday’s weeding session and after the lovely rash broke out on my arms.

You don’t want to know what I looked like after Sunday’s epic battle continued.

I spent six hours weeding on Saturday, four hours weeding on Sunday, and two days later I am still so sore I can barely move. I dug up weeds. I pulled them out by hand. John used a pick axe on sections where they grew in such a mat I couldn’t make progress.

We are about halfway finished. Yesterday, torrential rains and thunderstorms all day kept us inside. Today dawned bright and clear but more thunderstorms are predicted.

Weeds, you are warned: your hours are numbered.

I took photos this morning to mark our progress. Enjoy!

I am working safely at my desk until tonight when I am back in the garden…weeding.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « Hot Color Combinations
Next Post: Corn Corn Everywhere »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Colleen Wms

    July 30, 2009 at

    You give me motivation to keep my war with the weeds going and not just giving up and letting them win!

Footer

watering can with plants

Growing Ginger in the Home Garden

Growing ginger is fun. I was surprised to learn that I could grow ginger in Zone 7B, central Virginia. I attended a lecture by Ann Codrington of Nisani Farms several years ago. She discussed growing both ginger and turmeric. Her farm is in Maryland, but I discovered that both plants can be grown in both…

Read More

borage flower

Companion Planting with Herbs: Your Secret Weapon for a Healthier, Happier Garden

Every summer, without fail, I plant basil at the end of the raised beds. These are the beds filled with Roma tomatoes, the ones we harvest by the bushel to make our salt-free organic tomato sauce. My tomatoes thrive. “Did you know that basil repels aphids?” an organic gardener friend mentioned to me casually one…

Read More

a vintage folk art weather house which accurately predicts the weather

The Folk Art Weather House

I’ve loved this little folk art weather house all my life. It still makes me smile. What gardener doesn’t need to know the weather? I grew up with many German relatives. Thank-you notes were written to “Oncle Ludwig” and “Tante Marie.” During visits to their homes, I was fascinated by the little folk art German…

Read More

chive plants in bloom with lettuce

Growing vs. Wild Foraging Medicinal Herbs: My Perspective

Growing vs. wild foraging medicinal herbs is a real concern among newbie herbalists. The other day, I shared pictures of my herb seedlings (mallow, parsley, and savory) on Facebook. A nervous nellie immediately wrote, “I would be so AFRAID to do that! How can you know they are safe?” Well, first of all, parsley and…

Read More

  • About
  • Plant a Row for the Hungry
  • Awards
  • Privacy Policy

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Substack
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2026 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme