What a week of neglect will do!

[spinbaby]

I’m in the habit of going outside with my supervisor cat to putter in the garden. Not very long, maybe an hour in the morning and sometimes in the evening if it’s not too hot, but every day it’s not raining. I didn’t think I was accomplishing all that much until I went away for a week and came back to a crop of giant weeds I’d swear weren’t there at all the week before. Plus the deer acquired a sudden taste for nasturtiums and had a week with them and no deer repellent.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I have been fighting off infestations of creeping bellflower,

Asiatic dayflower and nutsedge. This year has produced a bounty of invasive weeds that I can't get rid of (I won't use Round-Up) but can only try to discourage. At least I don't have a lot of Japanese beetles.

[Mr.Bill]

3. Because of my dogs, I won't use Roundup

or other poisonous weed killers. I spray weeds with a mixture of vinegar and salt. It kills whatever I spray with it. Doesn't last as long as commercial weed killers, but it won't harm my pets. I just use a pump spray bottle and spray it right at the base of any weed that pops up.

I'm only working with a mobile home space, but if I stay on top of it, I can easily keep the place weed free with a gallon of vinegar for many weeks.

[spinbaby]

4. I pull them

The only thing I’ll use Roundup on is poison ivy from a distance. My landscaper used it last year and I still have trouble growing plants in some of those areas. The stuff is nasty.

[Mr.Bill]

5. In our dry summer climate and hard soil,

pulling most of them isn't really an option. They just snap off and leave the roots in the ground where they grow right back. The vinegar and salt kills them and doesn't do any long term damage to the soil.

[spinbaby]

6. The right tools work wonders

I use this stabby tool that gets them right out.

[Nitram]

2. It's hard to manage the deer problem, especially when it frequently rains.

We have had to put up a lot of wire fencing to protect certain plantings and plots with bulbs.