McGee: Growing a garden of weeds

I was riding my bicycle along one of our streets the other day and noticed some yellow flowers. I thought they brightened up the vacant lot. I saw yellow flowers; I knew many more folks would just see weeds.

I ponder weeds a lot because at times in my life they've meant yard work. For instance there are times The Lady of the House asks me to help her pull them up. At our house, when it rains we turn off the TV then go outside and appreciate it. A few minutes will pass then The Lady of the House usually says, "Oh good, I get to pull weeds in the morning."

"Gee dear," I usually say, "I'd really like to help you but I'll be at work."

That's when The Lady of the House will turn and stare at me over the top of her glasses.

I tried to grow a weed garden once. I had this big ol' front yard of grass. I made a circle of smooth, slick river rocks and let everything inside the 6-foot circle grow wild for the summer. My weed garden had been growing about a month and a half when I came home one afternoon to find my landlord mowing down my weed paradise.

"Boy. You can't let weeds grow like that," he said. "The seeds spread over to my lawn and then I'll have weeds."

Once I wanted to see how big one of our local weeds would grow. I started feeding it Miracle-Gro. Up, up, up it went. I don't know what kind of weed this was but most of its brethren only grow to about 3 feet high. This one grew well over 6 feet tall. I even took a picture of me standing beside it.

The Lady of the House says I can grow a dandelion garden this year.

I'm glad, the bunnies like dandelions.

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at: [email protected].