The Devil's Tomato

About 13 years ago, a nasty weed came up in my flower bed.  I went to pull it out and a thorn penetrated my glove and pierced the skin.  That made me mad, "This is my garden!"  I declared and went after it again, albeit a bit more carefully this time.  I pulled it up but I could tell I hadn't got all the roots.  This weed was like a mythological hydra, and grew back 7 more plants!  I dug deep but couldn't find the source.  It laughed at Round Up.  I nicknamed it "The Devil's Weed".

Solanum carolinense - Devil's Tomato

Turns out, everything about this deep rooted pest is poisonous - including the thorns which made the joint sore on my pricked finger.  I battled this thing for a decade.  Finally, I set out to find out what it actually was in hopes of final eradication; Solanum carolinense aka Carolina Horsenettle aka Devil's Tomato.  A nasty thing with a tap root that can grow quite deep and spreads underground by rhizomes and seeds.  Now that I understood it, I was going to tackle it from a new angle - a full size shovel.

I dug huge holes in my garden, but cutting the roots made it spread and any tiny piece of root took hold in the lawn and in the surrounding area.  Finally, I just started pinching it off and throwing away the little shoots.  After a year, what comes up is small and easily dealt with - I keep after it.

Today, when I was clearing out five or six tiny shoots I realized that in many ways this weed is like sin in our lives.  It springs up out of nowhere, it's difficult to kill, it spreads when you least expect it, deep digging won't always eradicate it permanently, and to keep it under control you have to be vigilant and nip it when they are tiny and throw them in the trash.

Weeds in the Garden

We have had the oddest Summer; wet, cool, and overcast.  Our Dog Days of 100+ degree days with no rain for weeks have simply not materialized.  Normally, the areas between the flower beds and the lawn looks like a terracotta pot that has cracked in the sun, this year it shows muddy 12 year old boy footprints.  Usually this time of year, the fescue is looking a bit singed and the crab grass is coming on strong, it looks like Augusta National out the front window...

The grass is so pretty, it highlighted the fact that the front flower bed needed some serious attention.  An entire wagon load of weeds came out of there today; a whole Radio Flyer full!  It was nasty, muddy, mosquito infested work and I've put it off all Summer; (sarcasm alert) perhaps that is why there was so many. 

The Black-eyed Susans are lovely but they have over taken way more of the front bed than they were intended, most of them had to go. There was a new bug eaten weed out there this year, I think it came from the pine straw.  It was shallow rooted and easy to pull out but boy was it everywhere!  With all the rain, I was able to get after some seriously established weed strongholds.  You know the ones, the trees that go undetected in the shrubbery.  Often, by the time you see them, they are well rooted and established.  Digging them out with a big shovel puts the shrub at risk so often the best you can do is prune it to the ground.  Year after year, it comes back.  This year with two hands and a strong back I uprooted a half a dozen of these suckers.  After my bath, I went out to admire my handy work and behold I had missed a thorny vine that was creeping up the back side of one of the shrubs.  The only way you can see it is from the landing above. 

The One I missed

Whilst I was supplying the nutritional needs for the neighborhood female mosquito population, it occurred to me that weeds in the garden are like sin in our lives.  Sometimes there are new ones that pop up out of nowhere, they may be easy to pluck up on their own but if left alone will spread like wildfire and become a real problem.  Some sins, like the Black-eyed Susans, are plants we intentionally set out but get out of balance. What started as something innocent begins to takes too much time, or money, or simply crowds out other  potentially good things in our lives.  These can be hobbies, friendships, that after dinner drink....  The hardest sins are like the trees growing undetected in the shrubbery.  During our dry times, the best we can do is prune it to the ground where nobody can see them.  We know the roots are still there but can't do much about it at the time and out of sight out of mind, right?  Only after a long period of rain and cool respite from the blistering Summer heat can we, with determination and hard work, get rid of the really deep ones.  Finally, even when we're dirty, bitten, and convinced we are done, a perspective from up above will reveal a hidden one we have missed.

What's in your garden, Friends?  I had a whole wagon load....

Wagon Load of Garden Weeds

Pretty Pictures from the Garden

Abigail and Dolley readers I love to dig in the dirt and enjoy documenting the years.  Here are some favorites.



Summer Colors




Freedom Hedge Rose Baked in the Summer Sun




Hydragea




Over a hundred degrees in the Garden




Black Eyed Susan




Summer Garden in July




Sometimes you just have to look up!