Weeding and Deadheading

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I’ve been trying to catch up in the garden.

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Mature gardeners running willy-nilly around the garden attacking plants is not a pretty sight. Then it also seems like nothing is ever complete. So this time I’ve made a list. I’m trying to be logical and sane – the cool, organized gardener.

After the vegetables were picked, I started weeding and deadheading.

With 3 inches of rain while we were gone, the weeds are as happy as the plants. I plan to weed one garden area at a time.

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Purslane, creeping woodsorrel, crabgrass need to be pulled before they go to seed. Some of the paths are overgrown. The plants are so pretty I’ll leave them. Cosmos and sweet alyssum took over the path above.

Lilies, calendula, hostas, petunias need to be deadheaded.

I’ll cut about 1/3 off the top of the lily stalk.

I’ll cut the hosta flower stems as low as I can.

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I plan to cut the calendula flowers off with a hedge clipper. There are so many of them I don’t want all those seeds to fall.

I also need to pinch off the seed heads on the petunias. They look a little sad after a week of neglect. I always pinch the flower and seed head. I know some people just pull the spent flower. I think if they’re making seeds, they have less energy to make flowers. What do you do? Does it matter?

That's my immediate list. I wonder how long it will take to go from the cool, organized gardener to a garden maniac?

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(See Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide for pictures of purslane, creeping woodsorrel and crabgrass. Weeding gives me a lot of time to think. I wonder what weeds are in your garden? What weeds give you fits in the middle of summer?)

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