Lettuce. Weird little lettuce leaf mix that I never get to eat because about the time I figure out its not a weed it bolts. But its so pretty I hate to cut it down.

Arugula is like cilantro. Not to everyone's taste. It also bolts very early in spring. If you don't care to eat it, pull it all out before it drops seed.

Arugula is excellent in salads. Check out these recipes found by Google search.

I guess I can be pretty ruthless and yank out just about anything that isn't in a place where I want it. I probably have the hardest time yanking out volunteers from Laura Bush Petunias, but I do it. They reseed so prolifically that I could have nothing but Laura Bush petunias if I let them all stay. As it is, I still have dozens of them scattered about, and since one plant easily can cover 4 square feet before the end of May, they end up looking like an amazing, flowering ground cover, albeit in areas where I don't necessarily want the entire ground covered by one type of flowering plant. Like Lisa said, anything that must be yanked out is just fodder for the compost pile.

Arugula is an acquired taste, but if you've had it all this time and haven't developed an affection for, or at least a tolerance of, its flavor (and since you describe it as skunky, you obvious haven't), then I'd get rid of it and put something there that I like. Individual taste buds are unique to each person, so two people can taste the identical thing from the same plant in the same garden and one person's taste buds will love it and the other person's taste buds might be saying "yuck!" Clearly, it appears that arugula is not for you. Move on and grow something you enjoy.

Many, many, many of the flowers and herbs I grow reseed vigorously every year, and so do a few of the veggies. I have no problem yanking out the volunteers for whom there's not enough space. If you let a plant stay just because it grows well and reseeds you can totally lose control of your garden and end up with Mother Nature's Garden instead. Remember it is your garden and you are in control and every plant that sprouts and grows doesn't have to stay.

I have pulled ten thousand Jerusalem Artichokes, hundred of poke sallet plants, and enough lamb's quarter to chock a lamb. Yes, I know they are edible, but I would love for them to be gone.

I have a few plants that could outcompete those for you, Carol!

Oh, and the lemon balm that has taken over my flower bed.....hopefully a completed project by the end of the week.

Ditto on the lambs quarters. They spring up everywhere---not just in the garden, but also in the fields, the shrubs beds, etc. I just yank, yank, yank. We're usually too dry for poke sallet to stay happy, so at least there's that. I rarely see it here.

I love lemon balm but only keep 4 or 5 plants scattered around and yank out the rest. They and the catnip are great indicator plants for me----tiny hatching grasshopers feed on the lemon balm and catnip before they move on to anything else, so when I see dozens of tiny holes appearing in those two plants, I grab the Semaspore and go scatter it around the garden. Oh, and I don't yank out the lemon balm seedlings until the spring grasshopper hatch is over. I like having them as indicator plants, but then all the little ones must go after I've dealt with the grasshoppers. Otherwise, I fear they would take over the whole garden.

We had 1.1" of rain very early this morning (and wind up to 58 mph that brought down trees, but not on the garden) so now the garden is too wet for me to work in there, but I weeded heavily before the rain arrived. With more rain in the forecast for the next few days, I bet more weeds will be sprouting, but most beds are mulched heavily enough now (a task accomplished on Saturday) that I don't think many weeds will sprout in those beds. The last bed that I weeded that is not yet mulched is filled with blooming reseeders....poppies, larkspur, chamomile, zinnias, Laura Bush petunias, moss rose, etc. I spent some time late yesterday afternoon yanking out a lot of sprouting crab grass, barnyard grass, bindweed, etc. It would have been the next bed to be mulched if we hadn't run out of time because rain began falling. I'm starting to win the war on spring weeds, but that just means the war on summer wees is right around the corner.

I really, really, really wanted to stay outside weeding yesterday afternoon as light rain began falling, and I was going to do it because there was no thunder and lightning. I thought maybe I could squeeze in 5, 10 or 20 more minutes of weeding in light rain. Then, there was a huge crash of thunder accompanied by lightning almost right over my head, and I though of Dr. Greg Forbes and how he always says "When thunder roars, go indoors", and I knew he was right, so I immediately went inside, leaving all those remaining weeds to luxuriate in the rain and grow another inch before I'll be able to get out there again to weed. If it wasn't for the whole weed thing, I wonder how I'd spend all my spare time?

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! I yanked that arugula out and I don't miss it! I guess I needed the push from you guys.

Sometimes we all have to be reminded that just because something survives and grows, that doesn't necessarily mean we have to keep it if it is not meeting our needs.