National Weed Your Garden Day
About National Weed Your Garden Day
When is National Weed Your Garden Day? This holiday is always celebrated on June 13
Today is Weed Your Garden Day. Most likely, you are already spending copious amounts of time attacking the weeds in our gardens. However, if there is so much as a single unwanted plant out in your garden, use this June 13 holiday to pluck it.
Left unchecked, weeds quickly choke out many garden flowers and vegetables. At the very least, the competition they give for sunlight, water, and nutrients causes your plants to be less productive. The purpose of this special day is to spend an extra 5-10 minutes weeding your garden. When I found out about this goal, I just laughed! An extra five or ten minutes would barely put a dent in a garden my size. But, ‘ya never know, this might be just the incentive some garden procrastinators need, to get out and pull the weeds.
Are you ready to participate in this special day!? Then, go out to your garden and start pulling those pesky weeds. By definition, a weed is any plant that is unwanted in your garden. This definition includes plants that are otherwise edible, serve medicinal purposes, and those that produce flowers. Some examples of edible weeds are Dandelions and Purslane. We all know that milkweed has medicinal benefits. But, we do not want them in the garden. And, then there are many colorful wildflowers that make their way into our vegetable gardens, where they are considered weeds.
Why is it that weeds grow more prolific than our garden flowers and vegetables? Right now, our gardens have been planted for a long enough time, that weeds are growing thickly and rapidly. Weeding is a daily chore. After you complete your weeding, lay down a thick layer of mulch, to suppress the growth of new seeds.
Definition of a Weed
A weed is any plant not in a place where you want it to be. Even edible, medicinal, herbal plants, and even flowers, are weeds if you don’t want them where they pop up. Dandelions are a perfect example. In the lawn, dandelions are weeds. Dandelions are edible. Use them in salads and for dandelion wine.
For example:
- Flowers can make their way into your vegetable garden where you pull them out, like any other weed.
- Even a common flower, vegetable, or herb would be considered a weed, in the cracks of your driveway or sidewalk.
- Only a child considers dandelions in the lawn, to be anything other than a weed.
- I do not know a single person who likes ragweed in any way, shape, or form.
- Queen Anne’s Lace is a popular flower in English gardens. In the USA however, it is considered an invasive weed.
- Has anyone found a use for Tumbleweed?
Now, consider the reverse…..
- Imagine you are lost in the woods for days with no food or water. You come upon purslane, an otherwise common and pesky weed in the vegetable garden. This leafy, nutritious green is quite edible and may help to save your life.
- If you love your salad greens, then the tender inner leaves of dandelion plants belong in your fresh garden salad. It does not belong in your lawn. It may belong in your garden as a salad green.
- Dandelions are certainly not a weed if you are a vintner and want to make dandelion wine.
- Weeds offer food and shelter to birds and wildlife.
- Many weeds produce an attractive flower.
- Some weeds offer actual or potential medicinal value. Imagine if an obnoxious weed in your flower garden is someday identified as a cure for cancer or the common cold.
How to Celebrate National Weed Your Garden Day
It is very easy to celebrate this holiday:
- Go out to the garden and spend time removing weeds.
- If you have edible weeds, don’t send them to the composter. Rather, make a meal of them.
- Consider using a thick layer of mulch or compost around your plants to minimize weeds. All about mulch.
Weeding Tip: Soak the soil before weeding. It will be easier to pull the roots out.
Today's Quote
“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” – – A. A. Milne
History and Origin of National Weed Your Garden Day
Our research has yet to discover the creator of this special day, or why it was created. This is surprising, as this is a new holiday.
The earliest reference to this special day only dates to around 2015.
Like so many recent holidays, the title calls it a “National” day. However, we found no documentation supporting this to be a formal “National” day, which requires a presidential proclamation, or an act of Congress. We did not find any official government recognition of this day.
Definition of “National” Days – and why it is important to distinguish true National days.
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