April 4, 2012 @ 12:56 PM

  

I have never had to mow in April until a few years ago, nor do much weeding, either. But, the weather slowly is changing and my gardening year is extended...so when given more weeds, make salad! Today, I had to use my weed whacker in my Labyrinth--a violent act I hate to do. However, I took a long look before starting to work and since I never am outside without my gathering basket and garden scissors, I was all set when I spied a great crop of chickeed and fresh, young dandelion greens. Then, I moved on to the weeds around my grandson's play area, where tons of garlic mustard, violas and galium (lady's bedstraw) are shooting up. Were they in an out of the way place, I always let my weeds go for continued eating and medicine making......and because they are beautiful when in bloom. But certain areas need to be be kept weed free, so my compromise is to use those areas first as my food supply.

Before mowing begins in a few weeks, I find all the mullein that has volunteered and move some of them to a safe place and others, I leave and plan on mowing around them ----which means that only I do the first few mowings, so that nobody mistakenly runs over them. I also stake out my stands of mallow, ground ivy, burdock, yellow dock and daisies--so I rarely am able to mow in straight lines, but it keeps things interesting!! Then, when the garden gets under way, all my overzealous (sometimes plain laziness) planting, is thinned out, but the thinnings go into my dinner basket--sometimes root and all.

A gardener's time is precious, so the multi-tasking of weeding and getting the benefit of the extra nutritious micro-greens is a blessing. So for me, it is never "all work and no play". All my work days begin with  gratitude for having this land to steward and to gather nourishment from it.