Ok.. I'm not really, but I loved that title! I am now in a house, as you may know, and weeds seem to be something that come with houses. Who knew? It looked so well tended when we put the offer in. By the time we took possession (a mere 30 or so days later) the weeds were out of control. Yikes! And being very pregnant at the time, I just gave up. Now I'm paying for it as apparently they sowed themselves and are back with a vengeance. Sigh...
I'm adamantly against using pesticides. My husband wants to agent orange the front under the trees where the weeds are taking over. I want to dig it over, pull the weeds, lay down the landscaping fabric and cover with rocks. I'd like river rock I think. Ummm yeah.. I priced it - I need 10 yards and it's.. are you ready for this... over $800!!! And more to just put bark mulch. Goodness me!!!
We have rock in part of the yard, so I'm thinking of pulling all that and using it under the trees, then avidly watching freecycle/craigslist for free river rock nearby and building it that way. I just can't bring myself to pay that much money for rocks.
I've been using Elimaweed and Scott's ecosense weed killer. they are good for the stuff growing in sidewalk/driveway cracks and kind of along paths, but if you don't keep up at it, it all grows back. Grrr. And it cost a fortune. So the next step is to just get down there and dig it. You know.. when I have time. Which I have so much of with two wee ones, lol. I need to teach the toddler to pull weeds for fun.. Only problem is I envisage him pulling anything green. Hmmm. I thought about hiring a student for a few hours to help with the rocks - gotta pull them out of the bed they are in. Hmmm...
I do plan on trying this approach. I've done it here and there and it does work, but you have to maintain the approach, something I'm not good at. Just take 15 minutes and do it. Do all you can as quickly and well as you can, focus on nothing else, for 15 minutes. The kids do sleep, so I might try it consistently everyday. That's an hour and 45 minutes of weeding each week. More than I'm doing now.. Might just work - I'll let you know.
If anyone has any other ideas to tame the scourge that's invading my garden, just let me know. My mom says sometimes you just have to start over.. Ummm. no.. I dont' think so. I'm blessed with some really nice plants - it's just those other ones I dont' want. Please feel free to share. I need all the help I can get to do it and not have my desperate husband grab a bottle of Round-Up.
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What I'm doing in my garden to control the weeds, is lay a thick layer of newspaper down. It chokes out the weeds, adds nutrients to the soil and recycles your newspapers. A win win situation!
I was going to suggest the newspapers like NeeCee did. My butterfly garden is out of control like yours. It's so out of control that I don't know where to start. It's frustrating isn't it?
It IS frustrating. I am going to try the newspapers, I'll fold them up some and lay them between rows in my veggie garden (I'll do it just before I water so they soak and stick to the ground - maybe lay a few rocks or something on them to keep them there as they dry)
I did start doing just 15 minutes - on your knees is now fun, but I do have a knee pad and once I get started, I really like it. Now, as long as no one is around I'm good. You see, I catch myself thinking out things when I do that. And um. I talk out loud, lol
I'll report later how my newspaper is working. It's a bit harder to do that in the flower beds as they are quite full, yet the weeds still squeeze in there.
I did lay a large blue tarp around the side of our deck - and it's smothering the massive well rooted weeds there. Still, so much more to go.. .sigh..
I have had some great success with scalding hot water poured over the weeds to kill them, then raking them up. Once the space is cleared, you can cover it with grass clippings or gardeneres tarp to help prevent new growth.We did this to a lrge portion of our front garden, then to minimize the amount of rock required, I scoured garage sales, store close outs etc. for some really interesting large size planters. I grouped them together and scattered rock between them. Instead of needing $500 woth of rock, I ended up usng less than $100 and the planters look so unique and interesting!
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