Buttercups

We're recovering slowly from our battle with the buttercups on the weekend. It was such nice weather that we had no excuse not to get out there! Those buttercups and dandelions have been laughing at us since last spring. Why weren't we in the garden? Don't have a clue - maybe some better offers? When I'm actually doing stuff in the garden I'm wondering what all the mental fuss was about. But sometimes it's just not the right moment. Leaving it sure makes hard work...you'd think we'd learn.

Digging out the dandelions is easy and there's not so many. They just have one root - yeah, it's usually a big one and breaks if you're not careful - and with the right tool pop up quickly. Buttercups however are a completely different thing with those tenacious root systems. They pop up in the middle of established plants or hide under big leaves. But we did persevere and had about three big bags of the weekend's produce.

Kind of makes me sad to pull up these plants. Dandelions are my favorite flower ever. So cheerful and sturdy and undemanding. And buttercups' dainty yellow flowers remind me of pretend tea parties when I was a kid. These were the flowers I could pick and they decorated many a mud 'cake'. But...the other plants in the garden deserve a chance to thrive and buttercups are stifling. They gotta go - and I know they'll be back.