Exploding Popper Weeds

Do you know what a popper weed is? I'm not sure of the technical name, but I sure have a lot of experience with them!

Popper weeds are little plants that produce numerous seed pods that explode when they reach full maturity and/or are influenced by an outside element. That outside element could be the wind blowing them around, or someone or something brushing up against them. They also explode if you try to pull them when they are past a certain critical point in their maturing process!

I have these little weeds ALL over my yard. Some seasons I am able to stay on top of them and get them pulled before they set their seeds pods and become little dangerous ticking time bombs. Other years they have gotten ahead of me and cast their seeds far and wide. When that happens, obviously, the problem grows and magnifies.

These little weeds have taught me a valuable lesson. A LITTLE effort early on, before the weeds set their seed pods, saves a LOT of effort later on. A little extra effort before the problem is severe saves me a nightmare of playing catch up for the entire summer. Each one of the seeds creates another plant. Each plant has a LOT of seeds. Plucking one of those weeds before it has time to propogate itself is a wise move. Yet, sometimes the 'effort' seems like too much... even when I KNOW that I'm saving myself 10 times the effort and energy later on.

All it takes is a couple of seasons of doing almost CONSTANT battle with these little suckers to convince me that the poppers must be dealt with as early as possible.

Right now, I have a healthy crop of them flourishing in my garden. It's still cold outside and being out there pulling weeds is about the last thing I want to be doing! However, I'm setting aside a chunk of time every day to do just that. My 'suffering' now with cold fingers and a little dampness, will save me endless hours later on.

It's a great reminder that sometimes, in life, we have to pay the price up front to have the prize in the end. We don't always have the luxury of 'waiting until we feel like it' to do something we know we need to do. Often the 'payoff' for doing the right thing isn't obvious up front. A lot of times we have to learn the hard way that when we procrastinate and don't tend to things in a timely fashion, we will get slammed with an unpleasant consequence.

Got any popper weeds hanging out in your life? Get to pulling them before they explode and create more problems in your future.