The Art of Pulling Grass

by Cindy Bower

Article begun June 13, 2024 – Continued until today, July 29, I’m still pulling grass

A recent fad for expectant couples is a gender reveal party. All kinds of colorful and creative methods are chosen for this fun activity. In contrast to that sudden BIG popping blast of confetti, streamers, or balloons, my big perennial gardens reveal takes place in early summer and is gradual, but no less exciting. Actually pulling grass is a unique kind of treasure hunt with delightful surprises.

We have what I would call a very large yard, a back and front, as well as a vacant corner lot – well not exactly vacant since we’ve been creating a parklike space and apiary there – which has been a decades-long project. 

Years ago I started acquiring perennials and thought I had it made. Perennials would save money and work in the long run. They initially cost more than annuals but will last for years to come. Plus you only plant them once, right? Every year my variety of colorful plants with interesting leaf and clumping configurations would bless my life with a beautiful sequence of blooms – just like in gardening magazines. At least this was how I imagined it. I then could add a few pots of vibrant annuals and poof! It should be perfect. 

I didn’t consider the invasive grass that somehow niggles and wiggles its way into every possible nook and cranny. This grass can grow waist high and blooms into hanging seeds that can resemble fireworks exploding in the sky. Perhaps the grasses are trying to upstage the perennials. If so, they are succeeding.

Spring in Wyoming can serve up several seasons in one day. No matter the snow, rain, or sunshine, it’s a pretty sure thing that finding a windless day to commence yard work is like winning a lottery. Thus we do what we can. The big decision every time I walk out the door is what to choose from the bounteous menu of horticultural tasks:

Cut back our 60 + feet of grapes – Clear out the leaves from flower beds – Pull weeds from pots and raised beds and herb gardens – Remove last year’s dead stems from perennials – Clip all the little suckers growing on fruit trees and in the grass – Plant the early spring garden – Later when warmer (if a lucky year, on Memorial Day) plant rest of garden.

Of course as the season progresses the perennials do their jobs well – GROW! So does that nuisance grass with a mix of icky vining bindweed. Where does a person begin? Those little grass starts are also pushing through in the raised veggie beds, so they get first priority! Until my seeds come up and I can mulch, I’m picking that tiny stuff out daily with my fingers. All the while the pesky grass in my many perennial gardens is shooting up at warp speed. 

In mid-June I’d finally gotten to a point of diving in. I had to if I wanted to find anywhere to plant annuals (petunias, cosmos, Gerber daisies, geraniums). The ants did their job well and peonies were opened, so those were my next priority with the poppies. Some of the grass surrounding them was taller than the bush itself. Once a person gets started, momentum takes over. It’s hard stopping, even if I didn’t have gloves in my pocket. Some raspberries have taken up residence near the peonies so I left them. They have a mind of their own and don’t seem to like growing where I want them. Their thorny canes snag my clothes and skin. Even some that appeared dead were showing signs of life so they made the cut (pun intended) with hopes of a few juicy berries mid-summer. 

I guess I haven’t mentioned the annoying cousins of invasive grass. That would be the dozens and dozens of plum and sumac starts that have no end – also some pesky sand cherries who make an annual return. For these I used my nifty Mother’s Day gift – an amazing Milwaukee battery operated pruner!!!! Somehow I’ve become a Milwaukee Girl!

I think perhaps that weeding is my personal growth lesson. I ponder as my wheelbarrow gets fuller and fuller of garden waste. What thoughts and time wasters are sneaking into my life until they are choking out my will to spend more time reading, checking in on friends, cooking nice dinners, and practicing music?

Back to grass removal – it needs a good watering first (preferably by rain if possible but not likely). Sturdy gloves are recommended, and dividing grass into small clumps gets the job done more effectively than grabbing large ones. Various postures may be employed; bending, squatting, leaning. I’m no kinesiology expert, but there are definitely some core and upper body tricks that I’ve discovered in the last few decades. All the while, I’m getting some good doses of Vitamin D!

In the area of our sun-moon arbor I dug into pulling grass which yielded the happy news that my honeysuckle was alive and wanting some room. My newest daylily hadn’t died of winter kill after all, and as I reached deep into my mature daylily bank to grab out the grass, I discovered a missing shovel! Whoa – I would have never actually looked there. It must have blown down in the wind last fall. Who knew? I balanced on a few stepping stones to clear the grass from my dark heliopolis and several varieties of coneflowers. I even cleared enough ground to make room to plant sunflowers! The Candice grape that seemed very slow and perhaps dead had little leaf buds near the base! Hope abounds!

Moving north beyond the peonies, some of the grass was literally above my elbows! I removed a veil of green that revealed more bright heliopolis, gobs of creeping salvia, and even a giant sedum I’d forgotten was there. The clay pots for annuals appeared as well as wild geraniums and more raspberries that beg to stay. At some point a garden gets to make some of its own decisions.

I’ll close this episode of gardening at Bowercorner by saying I just love being part of the wonderful creations of God and never cease feeling the wonder of it all. Stay tuned for more!

Genesis 1:11-12 – And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

Yes it is good. I’m pretty sure there were beautiful flowers in this creation too – they are all bearing seeds of their own kind too. I save them, plant them, and share them!!