Weeds!

[Miss Mary]

Anyone know a sure fire way to kill weed roots? I have many in my backyard landscaped areas, where my dog's roam is. I know I can't use Roundup or any pesticide (causes cancer in pets). Vinegar does nothing, heard it killed weeds, didn't do squat! Then I heard boiling water kills the roots but it would take a lot to kill these weeds - some get to be 5 feet tall! Anyway, I tamed my 'jungle' again last night and plan to mulch this week. Our old mulch is gone, another reason why these weeds are so plentiful. And some are right in the middle of a shrub or perennial - another reason I can't use Roundup.

Thanks!

Mary

PS - Preen is no good either, causes cancer in pets also. I have used Preen in my front areas, where Hope's electric fence range can't go.

[NWIASpotter]

Do you know what types of weeds they are?? Because depending on the type of weed there are ways to get rid of them...

[Miss Mary]

NWIAspotter - they're just these huge things that get 5 and 6 feet tall, mixed among my golden privets and other shrubs. Then I have the viny ones that have white flowers if I don't get them in time. I think the leaf on the huge ones is oval shaped, dark green. That probably doesn't help much.

You see years ago when I did more yardwork than I do now, we started a sloppy compost pile. We didn't really turn it much and within a few years the bottom layer was dark brown, almost black. I would mix that in with new topsoil for newly planted areas around our house. I used to put weeds and pinched off annuals in the pile so I'm wondering if these weeds come from the compost pile? I've since stopped adding new areas, since if you do, you need more mulch in the end. At one time I had lots of energy for all this work but we're just a busier family than we first moved here in 1989 (when we seeded our lawn and planted every single tree/shrub/perennial).

Hope that helps some. One of these huge weeds has a stalk about an inch around. I need to dig that one out I know. But it's behind large bushes so if I just cut it back, no one knows it's there.

I should add that our dog is a Golden - known diggers. She's not into that these days but I just know if I sprayed Roundup, she'd decide to dig.

Mary

[breeze]

LOL, you don't want my answer, Miss Mary -
I hate myself when I realize it.....

[Miss Mary]

Alright Annette - is it - move to a condo? LOL

Mary

[NWIASpotter]

Haha well Mary, your right, that doesn't really help on trying to figure out what type of weed it is...so the best way, (not the easiest) is just to dig them out and be sure to get ALL of the root. That's probably not a lot of help, but hey...I try!!

[Miss Mary]

OMG Annette, I think I know what you were talking about now. No I'm not going to smoke it!!! LOL Okay either I'm way off base or I'm right! Years ago I discovered an old fashioned annual that can grow 6 feet tall, flowers come in white/pink/purple. It's called Cleome. Greenhouse clerk told me to snip the main stem off as soon as I planted each one. Each plant was about 5 inches tall, about as big as a salvia when you busy them. I began watering them and fertilizing too. They seemed to grow inches overnight! The main stem/stalk was at least an inch around, I had to stake them up. Flowers were so pretty.

But the kicker? The plant, before blooming, looks just like mari*uana! I hope I spelled that right. Gonna get banned huh? Better put an * in there somewhere. Anyways, I had this pie shaped area with about 50 annuals one summer started. Tallest in back, the cleome. They were huge and hadn't flowered yet. I'm mean, or used to be, I snip flower buds off so the plants double in size. We had company one day and a cousin of Jim's is a cop. He did a double take out on my deck, pulled me aside and said - uh, Mary what do you have planted there? LOL I swear up until then I didn't realize how closely Cleome resembles another 'plant'!!! The seeds from these Cleome flowers blew all over the neighborhood too so I had many neighbors tell me - hey we have cleome growing now too. I'm a rebel I know!!!

Mary

[breeze]

LOL, NWIASpotter was on the money with the
answer! I think I'm going to try some more
container gardening, next year, and, add some
tree bark mulch around the plants to help with
weed control.

Hey, I've grown cleomes, and, they darn well
DO look like the Happy Weed! LOL, I was quite
relieved when they finally bloomed, as, the
"dope chopper" still flies over a lot, in the late
summer, around here!

[NWIASpotter]

Hmm...I don't believe I have ever seen a Cleome before. Given that I'm not the expert horticulturist or anything, but I do my fair share of landscaping and planting around houses. And I know how you feel when you can't get a pesky weed to leave, I have a creep grass that has taken over a huge area of the back yard and it is basically impossible to get rid of unless you kill everything in the area and try to reseed grass. Personally, I'm not into doing something like that.

[Miss Mary]

NWIASpotter - here's a link with a pic:

http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/annuals/cleome.htm

Cleome is unlike any other annual I've ever planted. I like to plant marigolds, impatiens, petunias, ageratum, salvia, etc. I was trying to find a tall annual to plant in that pie shaped area I had once in our yard. I was thinking tall marigolds or zinnia's. She said try Cleome. I thought oh, okay. I don't even remember if she showed me a picture of the flower or not. It really was a gamble come to think of it but I planed a dozen or so, in zig-zag format (my standard planting shape). I did choose pink and white cleome, since this entire planted bed had purple, white, pink and some blue (ageratum). When the cleome bloomed, I had so many compliments. And the plants became huge - 6 feet tall! It was a conversation piece, to say the least.

I have seen Cleome in other gardening places, sometimes with annuals at grocery stores in the spring. It's an old fashioined type annual I was told. Not very popular but worth planting.

I should add that I am now allergic to bees and cleome attracts bees, even yellow jackets (the ones I need to watch most of all). So I quit planting them.

Mary

[NWIASpotter]

Thanks for the pic and info Mary!! It's appreciated

[breeze]

Cleome is also called "spider flower", for the
spidery-legged looking flowers - and, you don't
have to worry about re-seeding it - it'll come
back, thicker, every year! If you need to cover
up a bare spot, it's one of the most care-free
plants that you can sow!

[Miss Mary]

True - no need to reseed, they reseed themselves. The few years I had them in my yard they were everywhere - yards away! In neighbors' yards too. I'd be out weeding, another neighbor would be too and she'd some over with a seedling - look what I found Mary! Of all the neighbors back then, only one other was into them. The rest thought they were a pain, didn't care for how large they grew. Cleome is different, I'll say that. They are very care free and draught resistent too.

Now I'm sort of missing them! And I took a year off from annuals. Didn't even miss them. Too busy!

Mary

[breeze]

Missing them? LOL - there's always next year,
Miss Mary! I've been knee-deep in the
fall catalogs for next year's flowers...I just
need to draw up a few garden bed plans,
and, figure out where the heck I'm gonna
PUT them!

[Miss Mary]

Annette - I know. Always next year.

I was doing drop off duty for Laura and a friend at our amusement park. While waiting for this girl to come out, I noticed her mom has several cleome plants planted around her electric box (many communities near us have underground utilities). And here we were just talking about Cleome!

Mary

[Rainband]

What about Bioganic. I believe thats safe for pets. When me and Tony lived in the house on Grand, thats all we used!!

[Rainband]

http://www.biconet.com/lawn/bioganicweed.html Check it out!!! Safe for pets

[Miss Mary]

Johnathan - thanks so much!!! I didn't know weed killers existed like this one. I'll check it out soon.

Side note, I was browsing over on another, er, forum. One I stay the heck out of, if you get my meaning. You said - where's my picture of drew. Then several people were teasing you about it, and I swear when I first read your comment, I thought you typed - where's my Pitcher of Dew (as if to sayLord give me strength to deal with all of this!)? As in Mountain Dew.....now you think I'm some nutty lady!!! Anyway, that's one heated thread over there and I think I'll just stick to topics like this one - weeds! LOL Hey maybe we should suggest some members go pull weeds to get their frustrations out? LOL

Mary

[Stephanie]

Cleome is also called "spider flower", for the
spidery-legged looking flowers - and, you don't
have to worry about re-seeding it - it'll come
back, thicker, every year! If you need to cover
up a bare spot, it's one of the most care-free
plants that you can sow!

I'll bet it is QUITE carefree!

Miss Mary - That's a funny story about your brother-in-law.

For me, it's good old-fashioned pulling them out. I make sure I have plenty of mulch in the garden as well. I bought this tool called "The Claw" to use for creating new garden beds. It was great for loosening up the grass and the soil beneath. I'll bet it would be great to loosen the weeds as well.

[Miss Mary]

Steph - yeah that Mary, she's a wild one, planting po* plants among the marigolds!! I do think he wanted to come back when it did bloom. When I said hey it's an annual, called cleome, it blooms!!! I didn't have the stick things that come in annuals, otherwise I would said see here, it's not what you think it is!!! Anyway he walked away, shaking his head some and got another beer! LOL

Mary