I've decided not to do battle with weeds in my usual all-or-nothing way. Just consider them a green manure crop. I keep them loosely in check and pull them when they threaten my crops.

Now, look at all the food and flowers on the way! The cucumbers are starting to run, the beans and peppers are blossoming, I have baby squash, eggplant and peppers, and the zinias and calendulas I grew from seed are growing quickly. I have been watering most days. I'm fertilizing and mulching just with what I have on hand. No $ in this garden other than seeds and a few plants. Aren't the tomatoes doing well? Last year that was the only crop that did poorly. These are a special disease resistant variety. I do hope to get a crop from these 2 plants. Enjoy the views!

Sandhill Cranes are rare birds, but they're common in our neighborhood at this time of year. They appear in groups of 2 or 3, rarely singly. Usually one bird stands guard while the others forage. They love my backyard because of a wet area at the opening of a culvert where they can drink and also eat whatever tidbits favor the damp ground there. They are not shy birds. You can often see them walking down the boulevard in middle of the road, causing cars to stop or follow them slowly until they decide to move over. My cats are afraid of them but will crouch in the grass and watch from a safe distance.

Easter, Cat in the Garden

Garden with recumbent cat:

You can't make me leave:

Oh! Ecstasy!

Such a beautiful day. It' Easter, my favorite holiday. I've been working a lot. There are lots of little weeds in the garden. They don't worry me. I will enjoy pulling them up while sitting on my stool in the warm sunshine. So much life to observe in a garden! One little problem, though: How do I keep Rosie out of the garden when I'm working in it? She doesn't realize that I tread carefully. She likes the cool dirt. All four feet in the air, she wiggles back and forth, scratching her back on the rough ground. How can I make her leave when she is enjoying herself so much? Oh, I guess I can sacrifice the little zinia seedling she worries, there are so many others.

Look! There is an eggplant blossom already! I planted these about 2 weeks ago.

And a tomato blossom!

My Love Affair with Dollar Weed

A patch of dollar weed in a mulched shrub bed:


The leaves are like little green flags marking the location of the creeping rhizome just underground. Dig down through the mulch and hook the white rhizome with your finger. Pull gently. The challenge is to see how much you can pull up without breaking it. The rhizomes have a bit of elasticity.


Each rhizome tip must grow inches in a day. Every little while it sends a leaf up and a cluster of roots out into the soil. Botanically speaking, the rhizome itself is not a root but an underground stem. How does it know just how far under the surface to run? Is this a factor of light, moisture, gravity? Maybe all those and more.


I don't think these pictures show how much fun this is. If you're careful, you can get a lot of weeding done for just a little effort. I like the smell of the decaying mulch as I work, a woodsy smell. I'm usually sorry when there is no more to weed. No matter; in a couple of weeks they'll be more.


This patch is growing in a St. Augustine lawn. It is also sending up blossom heads, one at the site of each leaf. Dollar weed probably gets its name from the leaves, which being shiny and round might be compared to a silver dollar. But lawn service companies say it is called that because it makes them rich. Dollar weed in a lawn is simply the result of over-watering. Less water, and it won't grow. But homeowners still frequently pay to have it killed with herbicides.

Weeds, Dirt, and a Tree

This is my little backyard garden.

Last year I planted a red maple there. It replaces the sweetgum tree that was damaged in the 2004 hurricanes and had to be removed.

Here's what's left of the old stump, now 8 years later:


Today I pulled up a lot of the weeds that had grown over the winter. I love weeds, dead or alive. Alive they keep the life in the soil, and dead they become mulch that protects the soil. Either way, they are good. For now, I remove the majority of them where I want to plant vegetables and flowers. The summer annual weeds will sprout next, and I'll enjoy dealing with them, too. This garden is too small for anything to be a chore. It is all good, and it is all beautiful. Do you notice all the leaves? They are from two mature tree nearby, another sweetgum and another red maple. Worms love turning fallen tree leaves into plant food. I have lots of worms in my garden.