Hardscrabble Journal

Chickweed

Weeds are bad. Cover crops are good. They are the same plants. It is the mindset that is different. Chickweed represents my own paradigm shift. In the spring it is one of the first plants to grow on the vineyard floor. Decades ago I used to struggle to control it. It was invasive and unrelenting. Now it makes me smile and I encourage it.

Chickweed represents the evolution of a better understanding of vineyard ecosystems. We used to work hard to keep the vineyard floor “managed.” That meant swaths of golf course grade grass strips in the tractor drive rows and weed-free bare soil under the vines. You’ve seen plenty of pretty photos of vineyards managed this way. It no longer looks pretty to me. It looks sadly barren.

The concept of vineyard biodiversity began at Hardscrabble about twenty years ago, but I still couldn’t give up the control. I sowed clovers, creeping red fescue, and even crabgrass (yes, one can purchase crabgrass seed). Each had problems. The clover died out after a few years. But the grasses did not. They became and continue to be persistent, invasive, and unrelenting.

A visit by a French vineyardist changed the way I saw my own farm. Where I saw weeds, he saw native cover crops. Why spend the time and effort of introducing cover crops, when they already exist?

Now I encourage chickweed and henbit in the early spring. In May, the Black Medic will germinate making a beautiful carpet of yellow flowers and thick mats of leaves. Each of these plants has a cycle, and then dies, contributing to organic matter and soil health. I still have yet to nurture a late summer crop. The crabgrass has continued to dominate. But for now, I can live with that.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: April 9, 2020