In lawns, as in life, progress happens when there is room for growth.
I’ve been on a mission this summer to pull as many weeds out of our lawn as possible. Each day my goal is to pull at least one bucket of weeds. It takes me about 10-15 minutes depending on how densely or sparsely they are in an area.
Can I be honest? It’s immensely satisfying – kind of like peeling a sunburn.
You might wonder why I would put so much effort into something that could just be mowed over or killed with chemicals. We’ve discovered that mowing them over doesn’t get rid of them, it actually spreads them so they grow over more of the lawn. And chemicals kill the surrounding grass and poison the soil.
Pulling them out by the roots is the best way to get rid of them for good.
There is nothing wrong with the weeds themselves. In fact, if I took a photo and showed it to you completely out of context, you might think it would look nice in a pot on your kitchen counter.
The only reason I am even calling them weeds is because they are growing of their own accord in a place I don’t want them to grow. They are hardy, relentless and strong. They put down deep roots and then spread along the top of the soil, choking out the grass I DO want to grow.
Why Now?
There is some urgency to doing this now because we are in a peak season of lawn growth here in central Florida. It’s hot, lots of rain and there is plenty of time for the grass to fill in those empty spaces left when the weeds are pulled.
The lawn does look a bit rough at the moment. There are numerous bare spots of dark earth where the weeds once grew. And before the weeds were pulled, if you didn’t look too closely, the lawn looked great! From a distance all you could see was a lush, thick, vibrant green expanse.
Upon closer inspection, it’s obvious that many areas of green aren’t grass at all, but weeds. Something I don’t want is growing in place of something I do want.
And for those of you who aren’t familiar with Florida, our lawn, grows pretty well from May through October, then takes a break until the following spring. Weeds, on the other hand, grow great here – all year long!
So, in this season of peak grass growth, I have a window of time to pull the weeds and allow the grass to grow in its place. I can still pull weeds in the off season, but those spots will lay bare for months on end and there is a chance something else will fill them in before the grass starts growing again.
I’m in a similar season personally.
This year has been a time of weeding out what I don’t want growing in my life to allow space for the things I DO want to cultivate in my life. I have times of feeling the rawness and pain of those bare spots though. I’m anxious for something to grow and cover them up.
It would be easy to allow ground cover to overtake the open spaces I meticulously created so I could feel a sense of relief. “OK, that works. It’s not exactly what I wanted, but it’s green and it’s covering up that space that’s sticking out like a sore thumb.” But that’s not the answer.
My work now is to tend those parts of my life I already love and make room for more to love. New healthy green grass sending out shoots and roots into those bare spaces. No weeds or ground cover. No fake green placeholders taking up space in my life, just to make it look good from afar.
In the meantime, I will look with motherly compassion and expectation at all the vulnerable, exposed areas, knowing they are a sign of readiness for growth to come.
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