Weed War Continues

I think I used up all the propane today. It was the second time that I did some SERIOUS weed torching. I've actually done it three times, but the second time was just a little touch up work. I think it is working. Although we haven't had a lot of rain, the ground in the "west forty" is nice and damp. So normally I would expect to see more weed seedlings than there were. There were still plenty, but less than I think we had last year in the bear areas.

That is the bad thing about ivy eradication. Once the ivy is gone, the weeds can see the light and sprout! Oh well, that's a trade off that I'll take.

I also weeded (with a hoe) my 12 rows of inch tall fava beans. Yes, that's right, I said "rows." It is the neatest looking vegetable patch I have ever had! I am not much of a veggie gardener. I like plants that take care of themselves and don't need to be coddled. Veggies are so attractive to bugs that I find mine need too much TLC and usually I lose the first batch I plant to hungry pests. Also, I have a soft spot for volunteers. Last year, for example, the design of my vegetable garden was made to accomodate a giant burdock whose root never got pulled for eating, some volunteer potatoes from a prior potato plant, quite a few volunteer tomatoes, a volunteer squash that I finally transplanted, and some birdseed that I thought was interesting so I left it to grow for the birds. See what I mean? It is quite surprising to me that I have these neat rows this year, but it is kind of nice for a change.

I really like garden serendipity and hate to get rid of a plant that reseeds itself against all odds. El Esposo knows this about me and was quite agitated when he saw broccoli plants growing in the lawn! I have to say I have no idea how that happened! I haven't ever planted broccoli.

I do have some kale seedlings from my giant kale plant of last year. That is another example of my failings (or my unique perspective!) as a vegetable gardener. I don't really do a very good job of harvesting. I never harvested any of the kale. I just liked the plant. By the time I cleaned up the garden it had a trunk about 2 inches in diameter! I did cut some of the leaves off it to eat when I finally took it out, but that was the first harvest of kale. So now, it lives on in lots of kale seedlings coming up between my fava rows. I bit the bullet and drug the hoe through them today getting rid of most of them. I have found that if you don't thin things you can end up with little tiny bonzai plants! So I thinned. But I will leave them in among the favas. (By the way, I am going to have a lot of fava beans! I have about 12 rows that are about 15 feet long. Then again, my harvesting drive is not very strong, so maybe I should just say I will have a lot of fava bean plants!)