Crumbs! I started imagining that gardening was nurturing. I thought I was Nature's little friend. Made beautiful veg beds, borders, the lot. Then I encountered pigeons, moles, foxes, badgers, mice, rats, pheasants, rabbits, aphids, slugs, snails, cabbage whites, lily beetles, and Heaven knows what else , not to mention domestic pets. It was war out there. I gave up on the fruit and veg - the stress was too much.
Last year my roses and beans were completely ravaged by green fly... those annoyed me. But generally I'm very of the ethos that I'm growing things for my enjoyment and if I get a bit of nourishment off of that too then it's a win - equally growing things for others around me is just as important. My kale went almost completely to caterpillars last year which resulted in hundreds of cinnabar moths which are lovely to see around.
The focus so far has been very much in creatures but I'm pretty sure that I kill more weeds than I nurture plants.
Probably the same here. Weeding out the competition is needed for healthy garden plants that often are not as vigorous as some of the wild ones. The main ones I remove are hairy bittercress, willowherb, buttercups, dandelion, dock leaf, bramble and nettle but there are also some plants others call weeds that I tend to leave grow about the place like wood avens, wild daisies, herb robert, crane's bill, clover, vetch and birds foot trefoil that I find have nice flowers and are not that difficult to control to earn them the label of weed in most of my own garden. Even the ones I call weeds are left to their own devices in places so annihilation would be a strong word to use.
I'm with you @robairdmacraignil. If I used weedkiller, I'd lose the pretty ones or the unusual. I don't mind weeding anyway and I'm not that particular. I'm happy to slice and forget anything that's too deep to get out. I can always slice it again if it pops its head above the soil. But then,I don't have any of the pernicious weeds that some are plagued with.
I used nematodes a couple of times inside my veg garden but I generally work on a barrier basis rather than destruction for the creatures. My veg plot is rabbit fenced, my brassicas are netted to keep the butterflies out, the blueberries also netted to keep the birds off. Weeds are generally moved rather than killed. There's a bank at the top of the garden that is slowly forming from couch grass and bittercress and willow herb bodies heaped up. They can chose whether to live or die there.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The last two hot summers have knocked the snail population for six and I hardly see any large snails now. This is worrying because they provide food for thrushes so if I see any baby snails, they are left to get on with their lives.
You’re quite right @b3, I do kill weeds as well as squishing the lily beetles and feeding the vine weevils to the birds.
Am fairly easy going though and allow lots of the pretty ones to grow plus those that are good for caterpillar food although it does depend where in the garden they are. Am gradually building up my plant stock so there’s little bare soil for weeds out of their designated zones.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
@Ceres - that's interesting! I noticed there were fewer snails around than usual, so that is a plus. We get very few slugs because we have sandy soil and a small pond with frogs. The aphids last year were horrendous on my dwarf apple trees though. I squirt them with a spray bottle with washing up liquid and cut chillies. Lily beetles get squished - I wonder why they are such a stand-out colour?
Posts
Probably the same here. Weeding out the competition is needed for healthy garden plants that often are not as vigorous as some of the wild ones. The main ones I remove are hairy bittercress, willowherb, buttercups, dandelion, dock leaf, bramble and nettle but there are also some plants others call weeds that I tend to leave grow about the place like wood avens, wild daisies, herb robert, crane's bill, clover, vetch and birds foot trefoil that I find have nice flowers and are not that difficult to control to earn them the label of weed in most of my own garden. Even the ones I call weeds are left to their own devices in places so annihilation would be a strong word to use.
Weeds are generally moved rather than killed. There's a bank at the top of the garden that is slowly forming from couch grass and bittercress and willow herb bodies heaped up. They can chose whether to live or die there.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham