A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Day With My Weed Whacker

Do you remember the old commercial that said....Morning backache..ache! Well after working in the yard yesterday...that's my theme song. I used the weed whacker in the little woods...tried to get rid of that pesky garlic mustard.Garlic mustard is an noxious weed introduced from Europe supposedly by early settlers for its supposed medicinal properties and for use in cooking. Garlic mustard is a cool-season biennial herb that ranges from 12 to 48 inches in height as an adult flowering plant. Leaves and stems emit the distinctive odor of onion or garlic when crushed and help distinguish the plant from all other woodland mustard plants. Garlic Mustard is a rapidly spreading woodland weed that is displacing native woodland wildflowers. It dominates the forest floor and can displace most native herbaceous species within ten years. I like to use the weed whacker to cut the flower stalk as close to the soil surface as possible just as flowering begins. If I had to bend over and pull this pest....my back would break. I have a good handle on getting rid of this pest every Spring, but every year there is more to deal with. Just to the north of my garden is a wild area that is owned by Commonwealth Edison. This space is full of it. Our wooded neighborhood is full of it, as well....so it's a never ending battle to deal with each Spring. So, with this in mind, I put on my gardening garb...grab the whacker and head out to the woods. I have mastered this tool...it is heavy and powerful. I can trim around a rose and not damage it. It's my favorite power tool :) When I am finished...I smell like garlic, have little bits of it all over my jeans... in my mouth... on my glasses...on my shoes...you name it. They say that it is spread by animals walking through the woods and then moving on to another area. What about me...am I spreading it around? They say each plant has about 100 seeds...Wow...if I could only sell this plant, I'd be a billionaire.
Balisha

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny about that -- that there isn't a ready market for such noxious weeds. :) You'd make a fortune! At least it's work in the garden...here, it's raining and cold with a March-like wind. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about the aches and pains. I mowed my yard yesterday and that about killed me but afterwards a friend called and had divided up a bunch of flowers and grass in her yard and wanted to know if I wanted it. I got back and planted all of it because the ground was wet and I could dig holes easily. I still have a small bush to plant. I was so tired last night I went to sleep on the couch before 8 p.m. I can't stay in the house when it is pretty!

Noelle Johnson said...

Can you imagine how much harder it was for our parents and grandparents when they had to garden without our wonderful power tools? I hope your garlic mustard does not came back :-)

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