weeds

i'm in a hatin' mood tonight. so let's talk about weeds.

i've been busy, so i haven't been monitoring the yard particularly well. and since it's been somewhat rainy and windy, the backyard (and other places) sprouted out with WEEDS.

let me acquaint you with some of the varieties.

perhaps the most hated and virulent species is the Nutgrass. it looks nice and all, it has a kind of distinctive waxy green leaf, with a lilting curl to it. you can recognize it by this sort of triangular spreading of leaves, centered by this stalk with the "nut" that gives this grass it's name... KILL it on sight. and if you see it in the middle of a bunch of normal grass, you must dig out practically everything to get to the nutgrass roots. believe me, if you don't hit this weed hard and fast, it has a real skill at spreading, and choking out the legitimate grass.

and then there's the clover-leaf. willow loves this weed, because the leaves are shaped like little hearts. HA! it's no doubt some evolutionary camouflage, meant to seduce little children into protecting them. what a foul and sinister weed this one is! it grows in bunches with roots that tunnel through legitimate grass stands, so that you practically have to tear up the turf to REALLY get at them... i hate 'em!

there are other varieties, but those two are the worst.

what doesn't work: 1) the weed and feed fertilizers. these seem to only feed EVERYTHING, both the grass and the weeds. i've never seen good results from their use. 2) the garden weasel. this implement, with its six interlocking toothed gears, are supposed to be good for weeding. unfortunately, they are neither specific nor aggressive enough to take care of the aforementioned weeds.

what works (somewhat): individualized attention. meaning: sitting on a stool, with a garden tool of some kind, stabbing roots and pulling weeds in their entirety out of the ground. ONE AT A FREAKING TIME. must be a metaphor for life in this somewhere.