weed

While I was away for a while visiting England, Scotland and Ireland, my garden in Switzerland was without supervision. Ground ivy took advantage of ny absence by taking rweedoot on the compost heap, from where it spread undisturbed, an aromatic, fast-growing weed. It enmeshed the entire compost heap like a green net, and when it was removed eventually, it was too late to prevent the dreaded evil of seeding, since the plant had already shed its seeds. This meant I would now have the unwanted pleasure of pulling out all the germinated seeds from among the medicinal plants, like Echinacea and others. So I learned my lesson that even if one is busy, to be on the safe side, at least the compost heap should be covered with straw, hay or some other protective material, so that weeds will not spread and go to seed. When this happens we have unnecessary trouble and it is time- wasting because we must pull out each little weed. Seeds carried by the wind can be dealt with effectively by using the right ground cover. It cam be seed-free grass, peat, chaff, or some other decomposable organic material. It is very difficult for seeds blown in by the wind to germinate and grow roots in such a ground cover.