Weed Therapy

I wrote about code therapy in another article. But there is another form of “therapy” I recommend: weed therapy. In the spirt of a hook I kept the title as-is. But it's the weeding therapy that I'm after.

I’m a gardener. My small plot around the house is a fruit and vegetable ecosystem with six rain barrels. I grow small quantities of everything from tomatoes, beets, and lettuce to pumpkins, grapes, apples, blackberries, currants, raspberries, and weeds.

Weeds are misunderstood plants (book), but they still don’t belong in my garden. And I find it so therapeutic pulling them out.

The purpose of weeding is to to extract the whole plant, including the root, out of the area where edible plants live. It’s a two hand operation with your non-dominant hand grabbing a plat at the base close to the ground and your dominant hand loosening the soil with a tool under the plant’s root to free it. With a quick pull you throw the weed behind you and move onto the next weed. Weeds live close together, so you’re likely going to work a small patch for a 10–15 mins.

As you go from plant to plant you’ll get into a flow. Grab, loosen, pull, discard. Grab, loosen, pull, discard.

After a session you have a small pile of weeds wilting away and a cleaner patch of ground ready for new edible plant growth.

The benefits you’ll achieve:

• You’ll get into the flow state. Learning to effectively pull weeds is simple, you’ll have immediate feedback, which is important to establish the flow (did the root come out or not?), and you’ll see immediate results.
• You’ll be playing with dirt. Even if you’re not into meditation and balanced life, you know it’s good to be outside and be grounded. This does that.
• You will see the results of your work for days to come. The edible plants will grow faster and bear fruit.