We planted a whole bunch of new stuff in our front garden this spring. Pink petunias, leafy hostas, lavender, pale yellow-green grasses. So pretty.
I kept up with the weeding when the weather was cooler, but then it just got HOT.
Unbearably HOT.
I spent as little time as I could outside. I didn’t want to be out in the heat, much less bend down and pull weeds.
Fast forward a few weeks later, and our garden was covered in weeds.
Ugh, the front garden looks awful, I thought, but still, I put it off.
The weeds grew.
Those teeny tiny little weed seedlings grew and grew… to epic proportions. I had one weed that was taller than me!
The Thing About Weeds
Weeds sneak into our beautiful gardens.
They start off all cute and small and have you thinking, oh it’s just a few little weeds, I’ll get to it tomorrow, I’ve got time.
But each day we ignore the weeds, they grow.
Their roots dig down deeper. Their leaves spread out farther. And if we wait too long, they flower, and then they spread their seeds and grow new little baby weeds.
Eventually, those little weeds start to choke our plants. They steal water and sunlight from our flowers. They deplete the soil of the nutrients that helped our flowers grow.
The beautiful garden becomes an eyesore.
Isn’t it funny how a bunch of weeds can make a nice garden look so terrible? The flowers are still there, but all anyone notices are the overgrown weeds.
Pull Them Out Already
Finally, I had enough. I was ready to pull weeds and enjoy my garden again.
And thankfully the weather cooperated. It was a cool, cloudy 70ish degrees. A nice change from the 95+ degree weather we’d had just the day before.
I got out there on my hands and knees and just started pulling weeds with abandon.
Some came out easily.
Some required both hands and me in the squatting position using my whole body to pull the stinker out.
A few were large and thorny. That required careful digging with a trowel and a pair of thick leather gloves.
A couple hours later, my backbreaking hard work was rewarded by a weed-free garden.
I could see where my hydrangeas needed a little pruning and clearing away of dead leaves, and I could now actually find the clumps of lavender with its little purple flowers.
And my heart lifted. I felt lighter. Now my garden was less burdened by the weight of all those choking, suffocating weeds.
It’s pretty again. You can actually see the flowers. And the grasses and hostas.
So the moral of the story is: pay attention to those little weeds.
Neglect will make those weeds grow. But pull them out while they’re small, and they’ll be easy to dig out.
You might even find enough room to plant another pretty flower or shrub.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
Verses About Weeds and Seeds
- Proverbs 24:30-34
- Mark 4:1-20
- Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
- Hosea 10:12
- Galatians 6:7-9
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