weeding and thinning
Today I was weeding grass away from baby salvia plants and thinning hundreds of volunteer morning glories down to 12–15 plants. I need to make a second pass and get those down to 6 so there’s room to plant seeds for different varieties.
Pulling the crab grass and other baby weeds away from the salvia makes it possible to hoe the rest of the weeds.
It’s necessary in a garden to remove weeds which compete for nutrients and water. Thinning sprouts allows the remaining plants room to grow.
That little salvia in the middle will have to go before too long — if it’s lucky, we’ll transplant it further from its siblings.
This process requires observation, decisiveness, and a willingness to accept responsibility for killing. Leaving all the plants, not deciding means none of them will thrive.
It occurred to me that I should be able to use this process with all the excess stuff I have in my life. It seems so logical in the garden: get rid of the unnecessary, select what is needed, give it space, and take care of it.
I have three yogurt containers full of pens, pencils, colored markers and sharpies on my desk. I’ve moved these pens in their containers five times in the last five years. More than half of them were advertising gifts. I have three that I use, the rest are like the crab grass around the salvia, taking up space, making visual clutter next to my computer. Tomorrow I will go through all 3 containers, take out the pens, throw away the ones that don’t work, decide which ones I like and will use, then, I’ll weed out the rest!
One yogurt container of writing utensils should be sufficient. In a day or two, I’ll make a second pass and thin even more. From pens I’ll progress to paper — files, notes, bills, magazines… weed out excess, create space, thin for optimum growth and function!
