As mid-May surprises us with it’s vigor and business, so does the Spring weeds! Here’s some tips and pics for starting the year in control of the gardener’s ancient nemesis. Watch for these weeds popping up uninvited in your garden:

Dandelions: If you can, trowel up the entire taproot. But at least snip the heads while they’re freshly yellow and puffy.

Crab Grass: Rugged and malicious, can stubbornly settle into the driest of soils. (If so, wet the soil and pull as much root as possible)

Clover: Often considered a weed. However depending on aesthetic taste, small white clovers may be desirable in a yard or garden. Sweet Clover is the fast, dominating weed that you should watch out for and control early on.

Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis) is a fast colonizer common on construction sites. It can get up to 5′ tall.

Trifolium clovers are considered a weed by some but may also add an aesthetic touch to a yard or garden.

Goatsbeard: The bad kind (Tragopogon dubius) is a nuisance, and a widely dispersed weed. However an entirely different type  (Aruncus dioicus) is planted in yards for a shade-tolerant native perennial.

Flowering Aruncus dioicus planted in a yard

Tragopogon dubius – Pull before it flowers!

Creeping Charlie: A merciless ground cover eager to set up shop in your yard.

Thistle: Pull it NOW when it’s thorns are still easy to handle, and before the taproot is too deep in the mid/late summer!

Violets: Pull them early before they’re established in your yard.

Tree Seedlings: Ash, Maple, Elm, and Buckthorn are the most common and can propagate in large numbers up to the hundreds.