Weeding the Parking Lot Garden

Just starting to remove the Curly Dock . . .

Now that we recognize the weeds growing between the native plants in the Parking Lot Garden, it's time to start weeding. I took on the task of removing the Curly Dock. 

Curly Dock

notice the roots

If you just pulled at Curly Dock in a newly planted bed such as the Parking Lot Garden, you could get an almost soccer-ball-sized clump of soil coming up with the plant. That could destroy whatever soil structure is beginning to form. Instead, while pulling on the plant with one hand, I used a garden fork in the other hand to loosen the grip of the roots. Once the roots were loose, then I used my Hori Hori knife to remove soil from between the roots as I gently pulled out the plant. Then I filled the hole back in and covered it with mulch. The wound to the soil is minimal. 

Tools of the trade

. . . half way done . . .

All done

All done with Curly Dock, that is. See Rogues Gallery for the other weeds we found.