My favorite garden I’ve ever grown was filled with weeds. Bindweed is the name of the plant that weaved itself around my carrots, kale, cauliflower, okra, and squash. It’s such a pest that a professional gardener I know asks if a person has it in their yard before taking any seedlings. The seeds can live for hundreds of years and the roots can grow to depths of 10 feet. You have to tip your hat to a plant with that kind of audacity.
But like I said, it was my favorite garden. By far the most productive and the one that gave me the most joy, even when I was obsessively weeding it.
Plants are the sacred givers of the world. They unconditionally want to feed us, and not just our bellies. Bindweed taught me this:
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Always pull things out by their roots.
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It’s harder than you think to get to the roots.
Bindweed requires daily maintenance to keep in check. Just like us.
The dreaded bindweed. Courtesy Oregon State University Extension
