Here is a picture of a peony.

Pretty, right? Well that is the end of pretty for today. Hope you enjoyed it.

My last few posts have focused on the the progress in my garden and how wonderful it all looks. Fun stuff for sure, but I need to get a dirty little secret off of my chest. More than ever before, I’m fighting off a vicious attack from …

… Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense):

And there is no one to blame but myself.

I enjoy weeding. I really do. I’ve even considered creating an exercise video based on the core movements required for proper weeding. It is a test of strength, mobility and a lightness of touch needed to ensure the entire root system has been removed.

But not all weeds are created equally. And unfortunately, I’m a “once and done” weed guy. I never spray chemicals and in fact, never use any sort of spray, even if it is natural and safe. I don’t have the patience to wait for them to die; once I am in eradication mode, I want them out of sight.

This works well for some weeds and not for others. Who can forget my journey with Red Sorrel? I’m still fighting that battle; but we can discuss that at another time.

Similar to how I first attacked the red sorrel, when the Canada Thistle started to pop up in high volume, I grabbed my gloves and a trowel and went to work.

I dug deep enough to be able to grab the roots without touching the painful barbs and softly yanked them out trying to grab as much of the root as possible.

Once and done.

Out of sight and out of mind.

But not so fast.

Within no time, the Canada Thistle was back and badder than before. Like literally within the week. Most intelligent beings would research why this was the case, but not me. I went back to popping them out only to see them emerge again, nearly doubling in count. They were like the frickin Gremlins.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times … and it is time to hit up Google.

Damn was I doing it all wrong.

I knew the Canada Thistle root system was extensive, but up to 15 feet deep? Holy s. And each time you break off a root by pulling it out of the ground, you are theoretically creating two new plants by splitting the root in half. Double the bastards to deal with in the future. Why didn’t I just take a minute to read up on this before jumping into the fray blindly?

Well now I’ve learned and it is time to attack these in a different way.  As I’ve now read, the best option is to prepare for a long and drawn out battle. By cutting them to the ground first and then cutting off the subsequent new growth on a weekly basis, the nutrient reserves in the roots are slowly spent and eventually, this perennial will die (or so we should hope).

So that is what I did.

And as you can see, there were kind of a lot to deal with.

The goal is to keep this up on a regular basis and under no circumstances can I allow them to flower so they can spread their ugly little wings.

And while this may prove to be a successful plan, the absolute best option is to plant, plant and plant. As the old adage goes, give weeds no exposure to the sun and no room to grow. For me, my best bet is to plant Bee Balm and let it take over.

It is working in many areas of the garden so why not grow them everywhere?

More to come as the new canada thistle weeding plan unfolds.