I think I’m going to go crazy watching annual weeds popping up daily – especially in my new plantings! There are thousands, no probably millions of them! Little tiny dicots pushing up through the earth making it look green and fresh. They are tricking us into thinking there will be a lush carpet of desirable plants come spring, but alas – it’s a ruse!! In reality it’s Penny Cress and Cheat Grass and Sow Thistle and who knows what else.
In truth, some of the seedlings are plants I want. Thus the quandary – should I wipe them all out or wait ’til spring when they have established roots that make them harder to pull out and are growing like crazy as they make their mad dash to produce flowers and reproduce before the season ends next year? If I wait until then I’m disturbing the soil a lot by pulling them out and this I know is not a good thing where my weed seed bank is bigger than I want to admit.
So…I am wiping out thousands of them! Using my handy hori-hori knife to scrape them from the earth, but in fact leaving areas unscathed where I hope some of my desired plants are reseeding, knowing as I leave them alone that I am resigning myself to more work in the spring.
Meanwhile I am planting lots of native plants, hoping that in the process of creating dense planting of natives I will begin to outcompete the weeds. It will take diligence to keep weeding around the natives, but I think eventually, if I persist, it will work. I’ll let you know how it works out.
Blackfoot Native Plants 
Keep going! It does get better. I was amazed by how many plants look alike when small–is that a knapweed or a poppy? (I had some red field poppies in a wildflower mix, but they have pretty much disappeared now.) Is it a bunch grass or just cheatgrass, Idaho Fescue or brome? It can drive you crazy!