Rebel plants
SELF- SEEDING FLOWERS WILL ROMP ALL OVER YOUR GARDEN IF YOU LET THEM – AND WHY NOT, WHEN THEY BRING COLOUR AND AN INFORMAL FEEL? JUST DON’T CALL THEM WEEDS
Weeds are those unplanned plants that pop up to thwart our careful, considered design efforts. They add colour we didn’t want, grow where we wanted a bit of breathing space, give shape that throws off our intended balance. It’s not the weed’s fault we hatched a plan without it, but those plants are breaking our rules, those little rebels. And while they may well be rebelling against our tyranny over the garden, perhaps we should occasionally listen to what these rebels have to say. Their agenda doesn’t always fit ours; sometimes it can be better.
Even if we like the look of a plant, if it persists and spreads easily to the point it’s difficult to control, we probably get frustrated with it and it becomes a weed. Forget-me-not, for example, seeds itself around thickly, yet we might let it off the weedy hook thanks to its beautiful blue flowers. Ultimately, only you can decide if a plant is a weed in your eyes. Don’t let other
“It’s not the weed’s fault we hatched a plan without it”
people define what you can or can’t like
– it’s your garden and only you can say what should and shouldn’t have a place in it.
A different approach is to start with the weed itself. What colour and size is it? Which ornamental plants would go with it? Approaching a border design with a weed as the wash to your canvas may sound like madness, but it makes for long-term sense. Create a border to work with that weed and it will always feel an easygoing part of your master plan.
Weeds will grow wherever it suits them best. You don’t need to fight against the conditions by changing the soil pH, watering regularly or adding manure or fertiliser. This can mean less work for you and it also puts less pressure on the environment. Weeds are loved by wildlife, too – for nectar, shelter, and nibbling on. Long flowering periods help. It seems a shame to stop this because we’ve been told a plant is a weed.
WELCOMING WEEDS I N
It’s actually a simple and rewarding little task to collect your own seeds – there’s no need for elaborate manufacture or packaging. And collecting your own has the benefit of significantly reducing the chances of transporting pests and diseases from live plants. First, though, you need to find your weed. Try doing this early in the year, while the plant is flowering so that you can identify exactly what it is.
A seed is ripe only when it comes away fairly easily. This will be more or less obvious depending on the weed, but as a rule of thumb: a green weed is never ready. Use small brown paper bags to collect your seeds – paper helps to keep seeds dry.
The time when a weed’s seed is ripe is also the best time for the seed to fall to the ground. This might mean that the seeds start to grow immediately, or they might just bide their time until the following spring. Replicate this natural process by collecting seeds and then sprinkling them in the soil straight away.
TRIMMING AND TIDYING
Weeds appear in conditions they like and then start spreading. Therefore, weeds require the opposite strategy to many garden ornamental plants. Rather than pampering, feeding and watering, weeds simply need restricting. Over the year this will take you no more or less time than looking after ornamentals. Lightly cutting back a strong-growing, weedy rose every year or two beats spraying garden roses weekly for pests and disease.
Most weeds are easier to control than you realise. The easiest methods of weeding are hoeing, hand-pulling, and using a hand fork to loosen roots (or a garden fork for larger weeds). You must remove all of the roots, particularly on deep-rooted plants, otherwise they will regrow. Other techniques to slow weed growth include deadheading before the plants produce seeds, and cutting the entire plant back to ground level to reduce its vigour.
In the past, gardeners have tended to mollycoddle plants, going to great lengths to ensure they receive everything they need without taking from their neighbours and leaving gaps around them, which weeds squeeze into. Planting as a community means filling these gaps with plants you know will grow well together. Dense plantings do require some maintenance (ensuring no single plant becomes too dominant), but the overall maintenance the plants need to thrive is far lower than in traditional, gappy planting. Ground cover is essential for low maintenance designs. These spread across soil, forming a mat that protects, locking in moisture and stopping other weeds from seeding into it.
But we must stop thinking of a plant popping up in the middle of a carefully planned combination as a problem. Unexpected, yes, but perhaps ask yourself: is that really a bad thing?