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Ron’s ArticlesWeed Free - not my DestinyMay 2008
I hadn't checked on my garden for over a week. So, after dark I put my LED headlamp and headed out to assess its status and escape the distractions of life. As I started across my yard I saw thousands of tiny iridescent lights in my grass. The only thing growing at that time was henbit with its pretty tiny purple flowers. Maybe some magic elixir was seeping from the blooms and reflecting the moonlight. When I got closer I saw swarms of tiny insects buzzing all around the blooms. It was bizarre. If I backed away I saw the lights. When I got close, the lights went out. Then I thought, "Maybe this is some radioactive meteor dust." I got down on my hands and knees for a closer look. That's when I saw the spiders - thousands of tiny spiders, a dozen or more per square foot. It turns out that my LED headlamp was reflecting in their tiny eyes. And the lights twinkled as they climbed to the top of what we call weeds to jump up and snatch tiny insects in the air. I was mesmerized by their sparkling dance and drifted off into an organic trance realizing this is something I had never seen and may never see again. My words can't describe the beauty of the little gray wolf spider who climbed up the henbit ladder to jump into the sky to pounce upon the unsuspecting fly and pull it into its dinner platter so its family could become fatter and supply me with more organic matter. What could I learn from this awesome experience? Henbit is one of the first plants to sprout each spring. It's kind of unsightly until it blooms so beautifully. Then as the soil heats up, it dies out. But all the while it's charging the soil with life. It pulls nutrients out of the air. Its growing roots aerate the soil making nutrients more available to the grass. Henbit is the super charger of the soil - assisted by all the other winter weeds.
I was fascinated. These spiders had sprung to life just a few days after the temperature had dipped into the 30's. They'd found shelter down in my 4 inch grass. Then the henbit grew up through the grass so the little wolf spiders could sit up on top to harvest their meal until other the things comes along for them to forage on like chiggers, ticks, fleas, fire ants, grasshoppers - whatever they can stick their little fangs into. Remember, I hadn't checked out my garden for about 10 days. If I'd been on chemicals there's no way I could have gone that long without checking for some pests or diseases. But since I've never used chemicals on this property in my 12 years here, and since I've amended my garden with all kinds of organic matter, it pretty much takes care of itself. I don't till anymore. In the spring I can go up to two weeks without watering. I let it go to the point of wilt. Then I hand water only the plants in need. Do you know any chemical-dependent gardeners who can ignore their gardens for that length of time? About this same time a friend of mine chided me, "I drove past your house last week. You sure have a lot of weeds. Isn't that a bit embarrassing given you're in the lawn care business?" I countered, "I'm not worried about those little weeds. Do you remember how great my lawn looked last summer? If I used a weed killer I wouldn't have that great lawn in the summer." I tell my lawn care customers the same thing. If you tolerate some spring weeds you'll be well rewarded in the summer. They provide nutrients, aerate and improve water absorption. You'll have the greatest yard on the block and you'll use half the water. And, if you're chemical-free, you can enjoy other benefits. You can make tea from henbit, chickweed or dandelions. They're a tasty and nutritious addition to salads. And there's even a very good chance this will help with hay fever and other allergies. Nature has a plan and weeds are part of it. That's why weed free is not my destiny. 
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Nature sends in these little fast growing green things to prep the soil for the grass that begins to grow when the soil warms up, and to provide a home to the little wolf spiders. I'd never noticed these little baby wolf spiders. But I've been scared half to death by them in the summer when they've grown to big hairy spiders about the size of tarantulas.