Repeated heavy frosts have severely damaged the last of my lettuce, as you can see in the photo, so I’ve got to pull it up some windless day soon. But, hey, what are those small green plants growing in the protection of the damaged lettuce? They’re weeds—winter weeds—chickweed and other winter opportunists.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that even though nighttime temperatures are dipping into the teens, many weeds continue growing. A less cold day here, a warmer afternoon there, and many weeds will grow to substantial size by late March, when December’s sprouting chickweed will have grown into March’s thick mat.
So I have a choice to make. Am I going to bundle up now and enjoy the bracing weather on some winter day as I hoe winter weeds, uprooting them so their roots dry, freeze, and die? Or am I going to stay snug in my recliner and be faced with deeply rooted and matted weeds next spring?
I’ve decided that I’ll get pull my blue Polartec blanket up under my chin and stay snug in my recliner, and then when the winter wind stops and the weather warms a few degrees, I’ll dash to the garage, grab my hoe, and chop away at my winter weeds.
What long-term vision—weeding in December!
Hoe, hoe, hoe.
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