Weeds Weeds WEEDS!

You've heard of a Field of Dreams - the Master Gardeners recently tackled a Field of Weeds at the OSU Extension Office Demonstration Garden. We're pretty lucky to know what exactly the plant is that we're digging out but it doesn't make the job any easier, despite working side by side with some great friends!

Of course, knowing who we are, we first had to identify the weed that was a "wall-to-wall carpet".

  What a pretty little flower!  

But that sweet little thing (it's Jagged Chickweed) will be shooting seeds near and far in a week or two - overwhelming every other plant we might be putting in the garden. So! Begone with you, pest!

Seriously, we always identify the weed we're pulling since

1. it might not be a weed - it could be a plant from last year that has re-seeded and we may want to let the new plant stay (I've got cornflowers, sunflowers, larkspur and hollyhocks growing in my yard that I haven't intentionally planted in 4 or 5 years!).
2. it could be an annual weed that has already dropped its seeds (it's a Winter weed) and we'll need to be more alert to seedlings coming up in the bed after we've planted it.
3. it could be a perennial weed and it's become invasive. Some of these miserable excuses for plants have "vegetative structures" that grow deep underground, resurfacing to torment us year after year. (do you think I may be taking this a little personally?).
4. it could be a biennial weed - last year it may have been just a pest but this year it'll be producing seeds to keep itself going in my garden for many years to come (okay, that time it was personal!).

The next thing a weed-savvy gardener needs to do is figure out when the weed will be in flower - some are Summer weeds, some are Winter. It's very frustrating when homeowners tell us that they sprayed the weeds with a very toxic herbicide and Tah-dah - they Died!  I know, however, that the plant they showed me is one that had finished its life cycle, set its seeds and was dying anyway. The pesticide didn't kill it, the natural cycle did. They put poisons into their own environment without reason.

So this is what we need to ask:

• is this little plant a weed?
• is this a weed that will flower in this season?
• if I use an herbicide, what will be the least toxic and most effective one for this kind of weed? And when should I use it?
• has this weed already finished flowering and won't be affected by any herbicide?
• can I just pull this weed - root, stem, flower and all - and eliminate the need for herbicides?

When that day spent weeding at the OSU Extension Service office was over, we all stood and looked back at our former Field of Weeds and knew that even Shoeless Joe would have been proud of our work in the future Field of Greens (and Pinks, Yellows, Reds and occasional Blues).

These are a couple good resources from our own Oregon State University publications:
http://mint.ippc.orst.edu/weedidentification.htm
http://forages.oregonstate.edu/nfgc/eo/onlineforagecurriculum/instructormaterials/availabletopics/weeds/lifecycle

If you have any questions about weeds in Central Oregon, call the Master Gardener Plant Clinic at any of the OSU Extension Offices in Crook, Deschutes or Jefferson Counties.  They'll be happy to help answer any gardening questions you may have.