If you are a gardener you are a weeder. A watcher of weeds. We endlessly plot how to have weed free gardens and fields.
A weed is a plant in the wrong place and there are thousands of plants in the wrong place in my pig garden.
Velvet weed or Buttonweed is an invasive species. Obviously. It is edible too which is a good thing. Velvet Weed. Buttonweed. Chinese Jute. Like many weeds it has a number of names. I bet you call it something different. It is voracious and fast growing and has taken over my little field.
It grows as big as a young tree, its leaves get large, and like an umbrella they block the sun from everything below it. It does not share. It is a very greedy weed.
I am now at war with this weed and the thistle. Even after I have weeded an area the seedlings push up at a shocking speed. But I only expect to do what I can. To Mitigate the influence of this weed.
I have mowed sections (this is where the electric fences will run anyway) and while the ground is still soft and wet I am pulling the weed from other sections. There is a lot of growth under there. Food for pigs.
These oats and wheat will go to seed for the pigs.
Velvet weed has one long tap root. It is easy to pull. So I am weeding a 1/4 acre of pig garden. Pulling as many of them out as I can. I will pull weeds every day – for thirty minutes at a time. In sections. Until it gets too dry.
The pigs come across in mid August so I have a month.
The sections that get too high will be good shade.
We have got to roll with it! Right?
This is the last night the cows are invited into the barn. I am shutting the doors again until the next severe thunderstorm warning.
Good morning. At last Our John is well enough to take over early morning chores. Which means I am able to reclaim one writing shift. I get everything set up the night before and he feeds all the pigs. Soon I will add the cows too but they still have lots of free feed in the fields.
So after what feels like a long time (probably over a year when I think about it) I will weed in bare feet then shower then sit at my desk with my first coffee and bring the writing hour back to life.
Let’s hope we get a few dry days now so we can get the hay in. (and on and on it goes with the weather wishes). 😂
Have a great day!
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
26 responses to “Weeding in Bare Feet”
All headed in a good direction. Those damn weeds. My daughter and I battled buckthorn in the back of her property for months and months. There are still some little remnants and it is a fighter. Have you considered buying some goats to eat the weeds? Here they hire them from local Farms to help eat the invasive species in the parks and then peoples property. They love it so it’s a win-win.
Weeds. weeds, weeds!
…at least the pigs can eat the weeds. I had Kudzu in Georgia – it grows about a foot per day!
I hate kudzu! My daughter has that in her garden in Aussie – remember? – I gave up and mowed it.
It’s a nightmare, but does produce some amazing sculptures as it engulfs feilds and trees in the south.
Apparently the roots are used as a vegetable in Japan (and has many uses as well… https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Pueraria+montana+lobata
That’s great in China and Japan, but there’s no tradition for eating it in America. In Georgia it has overgrown acres and acres of farmland – 60 ft per plant per season. You have to see it to believe it.
Isn’t there a saying something like one man’s weed is another man’s flower…? It’s all in the perspective but when a farmer labels a weed I believe them 🙂 Glad to hear you have regained writing time…
It is extraordinary how all of a sudden my days have opened up! Hoping all the animals stay inside their fences while I get my paperwork caught up! It is great to be working on my laptop instead of my phone on the run!
Ghastly. When l had an allotment l was constantly waging war on Mare’s Tail, a horrible invasive weed, notoriously difficult to get rid off. I loved my plot but was very pleased to see the back of that particular chore. Delighted to hear about the improvement in John’s health not least because you will be able to spend time following your writing heart. Bring on the black piglets!
I am so excited about the wee piglets. They will be just weaned so we will be super careful with them.
Ghastly. When l had an allotment l was constantly waging war on Mare’s Tail, a horrible invasive weed, notoriously difficult to get rid off. I loved my plot but was very pleased to see the back of that particular chore. Delighted to hear about the improvement in John’s health not least because you will be able to spend time following your writing heart. Bring on the black piglets!
One of my colleagues is struggling with Mare’s Tail in his new garden. He talked about using chemicals and weedkillers, which made me wince. I wonder what organic and nature-friendly methods there are. Challenging to dig out given the depth of its roots. I suggested putting old carpets down and leaving them to suppress weeds but I gather that doesn’t work on Mare’s Tail.
I need to look up this mares tail. Thankfully the velvet weed is really easy to pull especially in the damp. When I am having a really hard time with a weed I find dividing my garden up into a grid of small squares so helpful – clearing small spaces at a time and weed wacking the rest to the ground (do not let it go to seed) until you get to them is so much easier on a gardeners soul. Trying to tame a huge space in one summer is HARD – as I am experiencing with my pig garden.
I’m glad you’re getting your writing hour back. You must be used to early morning starts! I’ve found it challenging to move my usual 7-8 am wakeup to 5 am, not by choice but by the needs of my 3-month-old puppy. She’s up at dawn — in her mind I imagine “yay it’s sunny, it’s daylight, what are you waiting for? Let’s start the day” — and sleeps at dusk!
We’re finally having some dry days in the UK. It has rained and rained and rained. I hope the weather stays dry for you too. Literally, making hay while the sun shines! 🙂
Puppies! And you have to answer that call to go outside for a sniff and a pee! We have cut the new field and John is raking the old field now. Fingers crossed!
It sounds like trying to pull ragwort in horse paddocks, hard work but very necessary because toxic. At least this stuff is edible and maybe a bit easier to pull up. The pigs will benefit both ways, early fodder from the weeds and a better crop afterwards.
Ha……I quickly read some of your replies……..so glad you were talking about puppies and not Your John having to go outside for a sniff and a pee!!!!!hahahah
Jo (hopefully this is not to risqué)
Weeds fascinate me. They do what they do well… long taproots on the remainder are not such a bad thing. Your weed mitigation plan is sensible.
Is this the same Velvet Leaf/ Button Weed of which you speak Celi? We had it some show up in a bag of Black Oil Birdseed a few years ago.
It has a bunch of ‘common names’ – China Jute, Velvetleaf, Butterprint Buttonweed Jute, China Mallow, Indian Velvet Leaf… And apparently it’s also a rather useful plant!
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Abutilon+theophrast
Yes. That is the one. I am sure it is useful but not in these numbers in this field. Here it is smothering everything out. Maybe it came in with the seed I bought. Hard to prove.
I’d never seen it around here before it came up under the bird feeder, so figured it must’ve been in the 50# sack of seed from Manitoba. It literally ‘grew like weed’! (And disappeared just as fast when I saw that; )
That elusive writing hour…with my own little farm just starting and kids and canning I have yet to find where it fits. Thank you for sharing yours so I have such lovelies to read during my sacred reading time.
I love this post, and hearing about the order of your day. The barefoot weeding. The shower. The coffee. The writing. I have no farm, but I do love getting up and going out first thing in the morning whatever I’ve got on to say hello to the growing things and to see what has changed during the night, because something always has. Then it’s back inside for routine of living.
Oops. Important addendum. All of the above when I am in the country. In the city, it doesn’t quite work that way 😉
yes! That is exactly how it is and if there is only a wee terrace in the city house you can pop your head out the door and SNIFF! Works for me!