An assortment of hand tools to aid in weeding the garden.

A rash caused by contact with spongy moth caterpillars.

An assortment of hand tools to aid in weeding the garden.

Here is the recipe of the week. Start with garden soil containing a mix of wayward seed, roots, and rhizomes. Add a dash or downpour of rain and doses of steadily increasing heat. Sooner than you wish, the combination of these ingredients will yield a healthy menu of weeds. Now, wasn’t that easy; certainly a lot easier than making Fluffy Jiggly Cheesecake.

Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the outcome of that recipe, the weed one, that is. I don’t mind a collection of weeds in my lawn where they add much color through the season, but I am not enamored with weeds in the vegetable garden and flower beds. Weeds in gardens are competitors, vying for light, nutrients, and space with the desirable plants. As such, the weeds must be removed.

Weeding is not something that many people enjoy. Having spent much of my youth crawling on my hands and knees weeding row after row in acre after acre on the family onion farm, I don’t mind weeding on the much smaller scale of our gardens. In fact, as a self-proclaimed Master of Mindless Tasks, I find weeding to be a peaceful experience, a chance for contemplation, though I have yet to solve the problems of the world. Nevertheless, as do other gardeners, I try to get through the task quickly. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools to assist the weeders of the world.

Small hand tools for weeding include such items as soil knives, Cape Cod weeder, fishtail or dandelion weeder, handheld garden cultivator or claw, and Cobra Head weeder. Long-handled tools for weeding include scuffle hoes, stirrup hoes and garden forks. Everyone in our family has a favorite weeding tool and none of us agree on one. So, it would be good to become familiar with the options, perhaps by borrowing a tool from a friend before purchasing one’s own.

Weeding is one of those tasks that must be kept up through the growing season in order to get the best growth of desirable plants. This is especially true for vegetables. However, the need for weed removal can be reduced by applying mulches around plants. Straw and grass clippings are good options for the vegetable garden while buckwheat hulls, cedar bark, and shredded wood work well in flower beds. Wood chips may be best for mulching around trees and shrubs, but be sure that the mulch is not piled up against the trunks of trees and shrubs.

A rash caused by contact with spongy moth caterpillars.

While weeds may be annoying, one critter is even more so right now, and that is the spongy moth (formerly called gypsy moth). Here in the Berkshires, the caterpillars hatched early last week from egg masses located on the trunks of trees. Soon afterward they climbed up into the tree canopy where they spun tiny silky threads that allowed them to be blown about in the wind, a process called ballooning. They randomly land on other trees, sides of buildings, fence posts, and, unfortunately on people. Not only do we find ourselves having to brush the critters from our clothing before entering the house, but we are also finding a rash, similar to poison ivy, on our exposed skin surfaces. The rash comes from contact with the fine hairs on the caterpillar bodies. For more information about the rash, check out this website: myhealthystate.org/itching-for-relief-how-to-treat-a-gypsy-moth-rash/

Well, if weeds and caterpillars are not annoying enough, here is a list of gardening tasks for this week:

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