With the late arrival of quantities of snow this year, it’s hard to believe that we typically start to garden in April. But once the melt is on and the spring sun starts to shine, we’ll be eager to get our hands into the soil. And one of the tasks best done early is getting a head start on weeds.
Perennial weeds like dandelions have roots that survive over the winter, so are ready to start growing as soon as conditions allow. Digging these out early will prevent them from flowering and going to seed. Some of the truly troublesome garden weeds are summer annuals, relying on the production of copious amounts of seeds that laid dormant over the winter, germinate in the spring, then grow into mature plants.
But a second type of annual – winter annuals – also rely on massive amounts of seeds but their lifecycles are slightly different. Their seeds are produced earlier in the summer in time to germinate and produce a low, green plant called a rosette. These rosettes lay dormant under the snow cover, ready to produce flowers and seeds incredibly early the next spring. As soon as the snow has retreated, they can be found in the garden pushing up stems with flowers ready to bloom before we even notice. So, take some time this spring and scout for winter annual weeds such as stinkweed, shepherd’s purse, and chickweed.
Stay tuned for dates for our spring cleanup in the community garden. We are fully booked this year and have some new gardeners joining us. There’s sure to be some winter annuals that we can tackle!
Happy gardening!
