On Battling the Weeds

On earth, and in my heart

The grass won, I’m sad to say.

When I moved to this property late last summer, we got to work clearing vegetation off of the house. In that process, we removed a lot of weeds from the bed right outside of the kitchen, and I covered up the whole mess of grass with cardboard and compost, a technique I’d had a lot of good success with in the past. I had some help with it all, a former landscaper who decided to help me out on weekends. He never understood why I paid him to come out to help me get rental properties under control. Maybe he was just happy to see me finally in my own place. In any case, the grass in the kitchen bed was tamed all autumn and winter, and when the weather warmed up, in went all of my new plants, mostly herbs and other perennials.

Then, spring. The warmer temperatures combined with the rotting cardboard and lovely compost, so the grass shot straight up with full force. I attempted to pull them up by the roots every other day, but the underground runners were relentl…