It Feels Good To Play In The Dirt

Playing in the Dirt
I've read that getting your hands in the dirt is somehow good for your health. I am not a psychologist, but I know that I get great satisfaction out of getting my hands in it. There is something very therapeutic about digging holes to plant things and in getting down into the soil to pull weeds. Today, like every day, I pulled weeds. Some folks ask if my new landscape requires me to weed. Of course it does. I do not find that to be an onerous task. Pulling up the bad actors and freeing up space for the plants I want gives me pleasure.
We know now a great deal more about how plants communicate with each other. There are vast underground and above-ground networks that allow plants to know who is around them. They provide some help to those in the network that are relatives and they compete with those that aren't. How exactly they do that is for the researchers of the future. It's just enough for me to iknow that it is happening. We also know that plants form communities and somehow thrive better when they have one to live in.
As I pull the unwanteds out of the spaces around my desirables, I imagine that they thank me. Whether they do or not is irrelevant. It's just enough to know that their root systems are no longer having to compete with the plants that are taking up space and valuable water and nutrients. 
As my landscape develops, I weed every day. I guess that I am fortunate to have the time to do so at this point in my life, but I've always found a little time each day to survey my planting areas and to pull a few of the things that I have not purposely planted. Daily weeding at this point in my landscape is critical to its long-term success. The seed bank in my previous lawn does not contain anything desirable. What comes up in the now-bare soil are invasive pests like diamond flower, nonnative lawn sedges, Asiatic dayflower, green shrimp plant and Richardia. They are easy to pull when they are at the several-leaf stage of their lives, but much more difficult once they are fully established. Their seeds have laid dormant beneath the turf for years and the disturbance and the sunshine are stimulating their growth now. If I can rid the plated areas of my new landscape of these emerging weeds and before they can produce new seeds, the seed bank will eventually be "overdrawn."  In the future as my plants gain stature, there will be far less weeds to contend with.
I always recommend to new gardeners to not to bite off more than they can chew. Too many folks that get drawn into this new "religion" of creating living landscapes get overzealous. New landscapes need maintenance. They don't have to be created overnight. If you can't get into the dirt on an almost daily basis, the weeds will out compete your plantings and your landscape will fall apart. It took years for me to reach a point in my former yard to find balance and it will take years for these plantings to do the same. That is fine with me. I like to play in the dirt and I accepted that responsibility when I dug my first hole and planted something purposely. Life is appearing around me even though I began this venture only nine months ago. It will continue to develop, I hope, as long as I fulfill my obligations to these plants, get a bit dirty every day, and remove their competitors.

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 9, 2019 at 7:58 AM

    I am a poster child for what you termed "overzealous" and am paying dearly for that mistake. Mostly I didn't have a clue how horrible Bermuda grass is and how difficult it is to deal with. Can I start over? Hahahaaa. But yes, indeed I get a lot of satisfaction from pulling it. My husband and I have competitions to see who can come up with the longest and most complete strand of root!

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