Only Pluck 5 Weeds
Why stop at 5? I’ll get to that in a minute.
This may look like more than 5. Some dislodged in clumps. I separated out some of the dandelion leaves for salads.
Earlier in May, my husband and I were out of town for a few days. Being away from home can be relaxing and exciting. Returning home predictably sends my brain into a tailspin. Catching up feels endless. Loads of laundry, mail to retrieve, bills to pay, emails to catch up on, phone calls to return, grocery shopping, and preparing for the work week ahead. Wow, I’m tired just writing that. I have to stay super focused with continual reminders that I have enough time to do all that needs to get done. BABY STEPS.
After we walked in the door and dropped our bags, we decided to take a walk before the pending downpour. I needed to move my body, so despite all that was awaiting inside the house, I was happy to exercise for a bit. What I hoped would be relaxing veered into another opportunity to send my brain into overdrive. As we walked down our front stairs, I noticed that our new landscaping was responding to spring rains and occasional sunbreaks with a massive weed invasion. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I nearly opted to pull weeds instead of walking with him. In fact, as we headed up the street, I stopped every few inches to pluck along our street/property line. I sensed his impatience and decided to move on. I plucked a total of 5 weeds, but overwhelm was still bubbling. I made a deal with myself, on the way back, I would pull 5 more weeds before breakfast. In fact, every time I would go outside even to grab the mail, I would extract 5 weeds. It started to feel doable. It fit my mantra—Baby Steps!
The following day, I kept to 5 weeds every time I was outside except later in the evening. My husband attended a business function, and since it was a gorgeous night, I headed into the backyard to yank 5 more weeds. With a podcast on my phone in my back pocket keeping me entertained before I knew it, my big yellow bin was filled, dumped into the compost bin, then I headed inside for dinner. It felt so good. Granted, like dust, it’s a never ending battle. For the moment I claimed a mental and temporary landscape victory!
Leaving the cute little yellow-headed dandelions right where they are saves me time and digging effort. Why leave the dandelions? I’m not sure how dandelions got a bad rap. I used to love seeing yellow dotted fields as a kid. And they have numerous nutritional benefits. Do you know they’ve been used for medicinal purposes throughout history? Years ago I learned about their diruretic properties, but had no idea they contain antioxidants, can reduce inflammation, aid in digestion, and so much more. Before consuming dandelions, check with your healthcare practitioner. They may be counterindicated with certain medications or symptomology.
Despite popular practice, super hardy, fast-growing dandelions are actually beneficial to your yard as they help to aerate and fertilize. Ever notice how hard they are to pull? That’s because their roots go deep, like 15 feet or more into the soil drawing up minerals and nutrients to disperse throughout the plant. I’ve heard them described as the most nutritious species you can grow in your garden. Add them to your salads, teas, or toss a few of the flowers on as a garnish to brighten up entrees or desserts.
You don’t have to limit weed picking to 5 at a time if that doesn’t work for you. Do what feels comfortable. However, if overwhelm starts to creep in, experiment with cutting a deal with yourself. Tackle a manageable amount or block out a specific amount of time before moving on to the next task or commitment. You’ll make incremental progress while respecting your bandwidth and schedule.
Job still seem too big? See if you can convince other family members to lend a hand. Make a game of it to see who can fill their bucket the highest or fastest for a reward. Worst case, delegate the project to a landscape maintenance company. Before hiring, check to see if they use harmful pesticides or manual plucking. The choice is yours. In fact, leave the weeds if you don’t mind them unless they’re choking out your favorite plants.
Bypass pruning shears provide a cleaner faster more gentle cut
Sometimes I feel like I learn something new every day. Today I brought a load of knives, scissors, and pruning shears to a local knife sharpening business for a revival. This adventure was spurred by sheltering in place. I normally trim my own hair between salon appointments for a color touch up. Sheltering in place has taken my hair maintenance to a whole new level like for so many of you. Wouldn’t you know, as soon as I tried to use the scissors for my first full fledge triage, they were impossibly dull. Like not even capable of cutting the thinnest strand. I’ve resorted to my scrapbooking scissors for the last 3 months. Please, no judging.
Like the name implies, Anvil shears will deal crushing blows as the blade lands into the center of it’s opponent
Back to my little lesson courtesy of this incredibly sharp guru. She informed me not only to stay away from any bladed implements made in China due to lower quality and short shelf life, she also educated me on the difference between bypass and anvil shears. Huh?
Bypass shears work like scissors with a clean bypass action where one blade passes over the other. The anvil blade hits the center of the opposing blade. She told me that the bypass offers:
1. A cleaner cut and faster action
2. The blades won’t wear as fast
3. The crushing action of the anvil shears causes a longer healing time for the pruned plant (who knew?)
She advised me the next time I’m in the market for new shears to bypass the anvils and head straight to the bypass shears.
Did I throw in one too many sharp-edged puns? Sorry.
Doing Weed(ing)
I hope that you had a joyous Mother’s Day celebration as a daughter, mom, spouse, grandparent, friend or simply as yourself in your own way.
Weeding, yuck. If you read my Mother’s Day Gift Tips, you might have surmised that I would rather be doing just about anything than pulling weeds. Yet, I want an aesthetically pleasing yard and gardens. A messy yard is about the equivalent of a disorganized home in my mind.
March 23 grass and weeds
Chemical herbicides? Nope, not for me. I grow organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Astonishingly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently gave its blessing to the herbicide glyphosate found in products such as RoundUp, refuting claims that it is a carcinogen. My lips are zipped. But suffice is to say that my property will remain as chemical-free as possible.
So how do I reconcile my desire to do less weeding with refraining from using hard-core chemicals? Baking soda and vinegar. Yes, I understand that they produce a chemical reaction but I feel relatively secure in ingesting both of these ingredients in moderate quantities.
My property has a set of stairs leading from the front yard to the back. Despite fabric lining and pebbles on each step, weeds proliferate with wild abandon so every spring through fall I feel like Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Ground Hog’s Day”, repeatedly reliving the bend and pluck dance.
The moisture indicates the area treated with the baking soda and vinegar.
On March 23, the photo above was what the stair looked like. Grass blades and weeds, bend and pluck, bend and pluck. I chose to treat a small area with baking soda and vinegar. Within a few days, the green turned to shades of beige and brown as the remnants died off. Now a month and half later, the area remains clear. I have since treated 4 more steps, and all have remained weed-free as well as the seam where my driveway meets the street.
I will keep my eye on the areas to see how long they stay clear.
The treated area has remained weed-free for a month and a half.
The part of the puzzle I have yet to solve is treating weeded spaces adjacent to plants and trees that I don’t wish to annihilate. So use caution when applying this combo. Even if I spot treat, I am not certain that the mixture won’t leach into the soil and wipe out a Bradford Pear tree or a Rhododendron. Another tricky problem that will require a practical solution. Stay tuned.
Me vs. Dandelions: This Time I Am The Eco-Victor
Are you fighting the good fight against weeds? Do you wish to eradicate them while maintaining an organic yard?
For way too long, I have battled a row of dandelions between my driveway rock wall and the pavement. Getting at the roots as you can see from the photo was impossible as they were lodged underneath, and no way was I going to resort to nasty chemicals. I chipped away as best I could to dislodge the root systems, but within a week or 2 these tormentors taunted me again. Two weeks ago, I fetched my arsenal big guns (holy heck, why did it take me so long to think of this?). I sprayed each of the dandys with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar and let nature take its course.
I completely forgot about them until 2 days later as I pulled into the driveway I noticed the withered remains. While I could chalk it up to lack of rainfall, I purposefully did not treat other areas of my dry driveway, and those weeds are doing just marvy. Now that I know this works, goodbye to those too.
Caveat: this technique, while powerful, could be devastating to plantings you wish to retain. Using the mixture is ideal in areas where complete weed eradication is desired like driveways and sidewalks without concern about harmful chemicals leaching into your herbs and veggies or run-off into nearby waterbodies.
Fresh layer of potting soil creates a striking look
Good Doyt
As a toddler, my son was a vehicle fanatic. Gawking at construction vehicles launched him over the moon. One of his favorite DVD's featured a backhoe relocating soil and at one point, the narrator mentions the importance of good dirt. My son latched onto that phrase and each time he watched, he would shout, "good doyt."
From that day on, whenever I work in my gardens I think about "good doyt." Using high quality potting soil provides optimal nutrition and support for your plants' root systems. As a bonus, fresh, dark brown potting soil (as well as mulching for your gardens) creates aesthetic curbside appeal for your patio or garden beds.
Gardening experts recommend a complete repotting each spring to loosen soil around the roots and ensure the proper size vessel allowing your plants room to grow. However, if your schedule is too tight for repotting or your budget is too thin to purchase yards of dirt, then opt for a top off layer to achieve "the look." You will be amazed at the striking difference once you replace the old, matted dirt.
If a home sale is on your horizon or you just want your gardens to have a higher wow factor, consider freshening up your gardens and pots with a new layer of soil.
Keep the Pests Away
It took me a while to find a practical solution to keeping the deer, birds, etc. away from my blueberry bushes. I tried bird netting for a few years, but it was the bane of my garden existence. It ripped my nails, frequently got tangled in the branches dislodging unripe berries, and made it extraordinarily difficult to harvest the fruit. I have now replaced all of the netting with green tulle. It camouflages rather well with the plants and it is so much easier to quickly pick the berries. Although I felt bad about disposing the netting, the recycling center took it off my hands.
Trying this in my garden, I will keep you posted as to how this is working. I am using dryer lint to surround my new plantings particularly veggies that are slug targets. So far it seems the slugs have been avoiding the plants (knock on wood).
