Winter Invasion

I always have some Henbit. Not a lot mind you, just some. Usually it grows in the pebble walkways of the vegi gardens. However, there is so little as to have never been considered  a problem. It is a bear to pull up though, with weak stems and a mass of very fine roots.

I'm not sure exactly what caused it but this year it has just exploded. It is every where to some degree but most prolific in the raised beds of the vegi garden. Even with the near perfect soil there, it is still a problem to pull up. Some beds were just solid side to side and end to end. It was growing in amongst the winter growth of Butter Crunch and Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce so I knew I would have to hand pull those.

I planted one bed with what the seed companies call Mesclun. It's a mix of seeds that is supposed to grow you a mix of salad greens. I've never tried it before because I just didn't think you could get a whole mix of palnts that would all grow at the same rate. I was right. This bed came up with several different types of greens but one type took over the whole bed. I'm not even sure what this plant is. Does any one know? I know it didn't taste very good. And, of course, there is Henbit sticking out every where there was a little sun light. I just pulled out the entire bed to make room for late winter/early spring greens.

I tried pulling Henbit with out much luck. The plants were just too close together. I finally got out one of the little bent tonged forks you get with a garden trowel when you buy the set. It worked much better but the plants were so thick that I just couldn't get enough pull on it to pull very big clumps. I went up to the shop and built me one with a long handle and it worked perfect. I'm not sure it will work very good for any other type weed but it made short work of the Henbit.