One day this summer, I spotted a cluster of glistening currants in one of the currant bushes I planted about ten years ago, to my mother. They have not produced any berries before and have therefore been counted out, so to speak. Men där, in the morning light, now hung not just one but several bunches of red currants.
I threw myself up to take a closer look at the miracle and then discovered that the entire currant bush was disappearing under several decimeters of ivy. Ivy is decorative and arches beautifully over stumps and other debris, creating large green spaces, but I had never understood the power with which this plant makes its way and literally subdues everything else! I soon discovered that the ivy's tens of meters long roots were lurking under the grass and sticking up in places where they really shouldn't be, about to invade half the garden. Everywhere I turned, after quickly devouring the berries, I was surrounded by the strong, stubborn plant, which sneaks its way thanks to its decorative beauty, but with the insidious plan to take over EVERYTHING!
Since forty-five years ago, I am well acquainted with gossip cabbage, or kirskål as it is also called, and have spent many summer weeks pulling their long white roots to try to save some of the garden as my mother was the late wife of my father and he talked about paving the whole lot. I had to continue this hopeless work when they were old. But that ivy that dressed up ugly fences and stumps so beautifully had the same conquering behavior was shocking news. To top it all off, the invasive plant parkslide has seen its potential in the wild garden. So now I had three strong weeds to fight against at once.
This triggered my ancient powers. I became completely obsessed. Day out and day in, week in and week out I have devoted myself to the task of weeding back. It has been very satisfying and interesting and a kind of lesson in living. I've torn everything out so the earth has been bare and then gone deeper and discovered whole underground systems with wiring centers below the surface of the earth. Ja, control centers; large hard lumps from which mainly parkslide throws out its roots in all directions. Even if what looks up from the beginning is a small thin leaf, so the strength underground is massive! And these command centers were almost impossible to dig up, as if they were anchored so deep in the earth that it takes machines to prey on them. BUT I can dig well! It was extremely interesting for me to expose all the root systems, not a bit surprising really because you know these exist, hardly news, but I became colossally excited and even more obsessed with the work of removing it. It was all about that. And every morning the gossip cabbage had put up new stems with leaves as tireless proof of its inimitable vigor! Wow, imagine if you had that power yourself!
All roots were transported away – and so instead I have created soil beds filled with leaves and compost and worms, so next year the weeds will have to fight against flowers and berries for the space. As soon as there was some respite for everything else that lies in wait in the earth, the smurf started shyly looking forward. I will never win over the weeds, they are much stronger than me and they never give up, but I can control them. It goes a long way for you to cheer. Just like with everything else you don't want in your life, for example, psychopathic behavior, it creeps up, it's slowly taking over, right what it is, you are caught off guard and realize that you have lost control and all the beauty you have planted is suffocating under the weeds. Then it's time to clean up, as deep as you can and inspect and analyze everything, discard it and create new. And regain some of the control.
But it's still strange that weed with all the strength and tenacity weed has, IS weed. That it is not something beautiful instead?
