On 07 Aug 2003 11:36:13 GMT, (Guppy21014) wrote:

My roommate says weeding is not a requirement of a good garden. I on the other
hand can't find the plants due to the very healthy weeds surrounding everything
else. I am not much of a gardener (but I am the designated harvester) and I
thought I would check out my possible incorrect thoughts about weeds. 1)
Weeds take needed rain away from the vegetble plants. 2) Weeds will steal the
nutriants in the soil away from the vegetable plants. 3) Just mowing between
the rows does not benefit the vegetble plants as much as pulling the weeds. 4)
Mulching with newspaper or something like that would be beneficial. Anyway
any opinions regarding the Zen of weeding your vegetable garden would be
appreciated. TIA

You are correct. Plants compete for sun, water, and soil nutrients.
It's not *quite* a zero-sum game, but weeding isn't just a
consideration of neatness.

As for the Zen -- weeding requires little or no intellectual effort,
so time spent weeding can be quite like meditation. It's "out in the
fresh air" (as a bookish kid, I was always being urged to go outside).
It's useful and blameless. One of the few activities/pursuits in life
for which people can have absolutely no criticism. The hoe method
involves a certain amount of exercise, which is also lauded. The 'sit
on the ground and pull' method isn't much exercise, but can be
interspersed with walking around a bit and admiring how much you've
accomplished. The mulch method can be combined to reduce the amount
of time spent with the other 2 methods, as mulch is very good but not
100% effective.