dressed to weed
Sunny and warm: a perfect morning for cats and gardeners. The cat had her chores, mainly to stare at interesting things in the garden, and I had mine.
Task #1 was to deadhead the arctotis (African daisy) that has been blooming for several months. This is the “before” on one plant…
…and the “after” on another. Arctotis goes on blooming regardless of whether it’s been deadheaded or not. But the plants looked like they were winding down for the year, and I was hoping to extend their season a bit.
The plants are attractive, but I thought the bucket of trimmings was pretty cool, too.
Chore #2 was to weed one of the patches of bromeliads that we’d let loose in the back of a raised bed. 
The plant has rigid spines like teeth on a sharp saw blade, which makes weeding tricky, and forces you to ask yourself, “Do I really want to do this?”
John started on the task and ended up with bloody forearms. Not happy. He went for the pitchfork, thinking we could lift the clumps, weed under them, and then set the clumps back. These are plants with almost no roots, and that would have worked fine.
But I proposed another idea. I have these long cordura motorcycle gauntlets that I use when I ride my scooter when it’s cold out. They protect your hands, but also your forearms. Would those work for the garden, too?
I suited up, first a thick long-sleeved sweatshirt, and then the gauntlets. Okay, it’s not particularly haute couture, and it’s not a look I’d want to inflict on the world. But it worked.
Why all this effort? Well, the flowers are pretty stunning right now in an unrestrained, tropical way. And the plants are surprising drought-tolerant.
Weeding around them seems to be the main challenge. But now we’ve got an easy solution…
April 17 2009 11:12 am | Categories: gardening • my garden | Tags: bromeliads • cats • deadheading • weeding
Gayle Madwin on 18 Apr 2009 at 12:09 am #
Yikes! And I thought my weeding chores were bad.
I dug out a bunch of nutsedge last week, leaving large holes, which produce poor drainage, which will produce more nutsedge if I don’t fill in the holes. I did fill in a few already, but I have a lot more left to go. It’s a good thing we’re entering the dry season!
Karen - An Artist's Garden on 18 Apr 2009 at 3:27 pm #
Eeek — rather you than me.
K
lostlandscape on 18 Apr 2009 at 3:48 pm #
Gayle, I dropped a note at your blog about my own sedge problems. Given my choice between a few spines and unstoppable sedge, I’d pick the spines any day. Good luck with your eradication!
Karen, not a look to emulate, eh?
Jenny on 18 Apr 2009 at 4:15 pm #
I asked a specialty grower how he weeded around them and he said long handled tongs like you use in the kitchen.
lostlandscape on 19 Apr 2009 at 9:52 am #
I didn’t have my camera with me on one of my last nursery trips. Next to the little 2-inch pots of cactuses was a pair of barbecue tongs to help you get the spiny critters into your shopping cart. Pretty funny.
[ Lost in the Landscape ] » friday garden roundup on 17 Jul 2009 at 10:14 am #
[…] melianthus grows next to a bromeliad that truly is nasty and spiny. (I’ve mentioned this plant before…) Pretty though, even when it’s not flowering. And it takes next to no water when grown in […]