Doesn't it look pretty, glowing in the late afternoon sun? Yeah. It's a thistle.
I went to a part of the yard that I hadn’t been to check out for while (no, the yard isn’t that big, but I’ve been busy with school, and taking people to soccer and play practice, and the Girl just started Tae Kwan Do classes, and it was really hot until a few days ago…)
Anyway, the thistles have bloomed. Crud.
Some seed have scattered, some are still attached, so my mode now is to carefully cut off the seed heads and put them in a bag, then put the bag in the trash. My compost doesn’t get hot enough to kill weed seeds, so I avoid putting them in the compost bin.
Philosophically, are my weeds providing me a service? They are holding on to soil, bringing up nutrients from the subsoil, harvesting rainwater, turning atmospheric carbon into fodder for the compost pile?
Yeah.
They do all those things. And more.
But, I don’t want many more of them. Especially the prickly ones. Oh well.
Strawberry Fields for Breakfast 