Every spring, as nature awakens, we all look forward to seeing the first flowers appear in the garden. What’s certain, however, is that whatever our gardening techniques, we’ll also see weeds appear. Even if the laidback gardener’s well-mulched flower and vegetable beds contain a few of these intruders, there are always a few, even in low-maintenance beds. As for the lawn, it’s the same thing: there are always weeds, no matter how hard you try.

The Battle Against Weeds
So, if you’ve decided to wage a never-ending battle against weeds, you can fight them the traditional way. Either pull them out by hand, or poison them. In both cases, of course, they’ll grow back, but that’s life, at least in the garden.
Rest assured, there’s another, much more original, and much more controversial, way to go about it. Apparently, you can control weeds with… positive thinking!
No kidding! Several studies indicate that plants react to human thought. In fact, if a plant is placed in a room and a human is invited in with positive thoughts about it (“You’re beautiful, I love you, I want you to succeed”, etc.), the plant grows and gets bigger. On the other hand, if the person sends it negative vibes (“You’re ugly, I hate you, I want you to die!”, etc.), the poor plant withers and eventually dies. It’s worth noting that the care required for plants that are both loved and unloved is identical.
A Flaw…
However, a flaw has been found in the theory that positive thoughts stimulate beautiful plant growth and negative thoughts inhibit it. After potting a dandelion and sending it negative waves, against all odds, it flourished, grew and bloomed like never before! But when positive waves were sent to it, it withered and died. In fact, we discovered that the dandelion is a stubborn and stupid plant, downright nasty, which takes advantage of the negative thoughts of gardeners who hate it to invade their gardens.
The best proof of this is that, outside North America, the dandelion is regarded as a minor weed that we don’t worry too much about, and we don’t treat it badly or grumble about it. On the other hand, in North America, where this hatred has almost reached the proportions of collective hysteria, we see them everywhere, often by the hundreds, thousands, sometimes by the millions!
My Experience With Dandelions

As a result of these experiences, I decided to change course and start loving dandelions. To find the golden flowers pretty, to admire their beautifully cut foliage, and even to find their egret-crowned fruits attractive. In fact, at night, when I can’t fall asleep, I dream of fields of dandelions in fruit and gentle winds carrying the delicately winged seeds up to the blue sky like so many little white stars. The scene is so tranquil, so restful that I barely have time to create the image before I fall asleep!
Although I have no scientific proof, I believe it works. In fact, I have very few dandelions on my property, whereas my neighbor across the street, who uses chemical treatments every year, has plenty. All summer long, I cherish every little dandelion I find, encourage it to grow, wish it good luck against the invaders that are the other plants… and, inevitably, it either stays skinny or disappears.
Of course, there are those who will say it’s because I’m too careless with my lawn and gardens. It’s true that I apply a lot of decomposable mulch to my flower beds and vegetable garden, and I never fertilize or treat my lawn. I even leave grass clippings where they are (the height of laziness!).
How can you expect a weed to succeed on such a neglected site? Everyone knows that the more you fight weeds, the more there are!
Positive Vibes to the Rescue

However, I firmly believe that it’s my positive vibes that do the work. I try to love all plants, all the time, even the worst weeds, to find advantages in all their faults, to flood my field with positive thoughts.
Even so, there are still several less desirable plants in my yard, but that’s not my fault! I put the blame on the other members of the household. No one else in my family makes the slightest effort to send positive vibes to the yard.
Even my wife refuses to find dandelions and other weeds beautiful. In fact, my son-in-law has admitted that he hates mowing the lawn and will do anything to avoid it. What a horrible attitude! I’m sure that if, last year, the lawn looked sickly in the corner under the spruce trees and my spinach went limp, it’s a direct result of his negative attitude.
Let’s Adopt a Positive Attitude
So, gardeners, fill your hearts with positive vibes. Be positive. If you always manage to be in a good mood, your garden will always look good! Better still, even if it isn’t, you’ll have such a positive attitude that you’ll think it’s beautiful! Maybe that’s the main secret of the laidback gardener: if you flatly refuse to admit you have a problem, well, you don’t!
Finally, if you have a few minutes, please send positive thoughts to the goutweed that’s invading my yard. Try as I might, I’m unable to think positive thoughts towards this cursed plant… which is conquering my entire yard!
Larry Hodgson published thousands of articles and 65 books over the course of his career, in both French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in May 2000 in Fleurs, plantes et jardins.
Okay, now that is just weird. I can not doubt it completely though. The dandelions that I tried to grow intentionally within containment would not perform. I wanted their greens, but got only a few leaves and a bunch of bloom, which I plucked before it went to see.
HORSE MANURE , Not a comment, suggested growth assistant, helps balance PH and builds humus when chemical free cow poo not available best heat composite it first weed wise.
Why we love Larry!