An Untity Bed

The local Council must have forgotten about this bed! I include it because it is the result of being in too much of a hurry to plant, whilst weed seeds (mostly chickweed) are still in the ground.

Weeds have uncanny survival strategies which in many ways puts them head and shoulders above our cultivated plants:

They tend to germinate very quickly, enabling them to spring into life and get established first, allowing them to grab the food, water and often the light.

They usually have very short life cycles, enabling them to flower and produce seeds - many thousands of seeds - quickly - several times per year.

They tend to germinate at different times. i.e. They do not all germinate at once, unlike our cultivated plants. Many are left in the soil to re-infect later crops.

A FURTHER PROBLEM

Because these plants are very close together, it is impossible to get at the weeds - either with a hoe, a weedkiller, or even by hand (it is impossible to step into the bed without damaging the tulips and wallflowers).

If you have a bed which has been badly affected with weeds, plant by all means, but LEAVE SUFFICIENT SPACE BETWEEN THE PLANTS to run a Dutch hoe between them.

AND ANOTHER ONE

Even if it were possible to get at the weeds, any treatment would disturb the weeds and cause them to drop even more seeds.


I cannot stress how important it is, NEVER TO ALLOW WEEDS TO FLOWER AND PRODUCE SEED. Keep attacking them. Don't despair if your efforts seem to no avail at first; you will soon see a difference.

But just a small delay before planting can allow you to get rid of many weeds.