...you TOO can have a glorious shabby chic garden!
I actually enjoy weeding, but even I often don't have the time or patience to devote hours to it. My solution: spend about 3-5 minutes weeding, every time I take the wee doggy out to pee. It's easy to remember, I mean the weeds are their own visual cue...the whole crux of the situation is that they don't go away on their own...so I take the pooch out, and while he finds a great spot on the lawn to burn with his urinary juices, I pull a handful or two of weeds.
I began my weeding career with my grandfather, in the summers, as a child...I pulled the weeds, and then, either we fed them to the sheep, or I would transplant the ones I liked to my own "weed garden" area, which I lined with rocks and pebbles and rusted trash bits that I found on the edges on my grandfathers yard (beds springs, gears, etc...).
Now, my Sonny benefits from my love affair with the weed...and so does the dog. And really, so does the grumpy neighbor. He has ME to THANK for the fact that our yard is weed free (though full credit for the actual garden goes to Sonny Rollins, master of the mulch, eradicator of overgrown "wildflowers", and divider of unmanaged hostas).
I actually enjoy weeding, but even I often don't have the time or patience to devote hours to it. My solution: spend about 3-5 minutes weeding, every time I take the wee doggy out to pee. It's easy to remember, I mean the weeds are their own visual cue...the whole crux of the situation is that they don't go away on their own...so I take the pooch out, and while he finds a great spot on the lawn to burn with his urinary juices, I pull a handful or two of weeds.
I began my weeding career with my grandfather, in the summers, as a child...I pulled the weeds, and then, either we fed them to the sheep, or I would transplant the ones I liked to my own "weed garden" area, which I lined with rocks and pebbles and rusted trash bits that I found on the edges on my grandfathers yard (beds springs, gears, etc...).
Now, my Sonny benefits from my love affair with the weed...and so does the dog. And really, so does the grumpy neighbor. He has ME to THANK for the fact that our yard is weed free (though full credit for the actual garden goes to Sonny Rollins, master of the mulch, eradicator of overgrown "wildflowers", and divider of unmanaged hostas).
Some "weeds" are edible for salads like DANDY LIONS. Pour a lot of water immediately where the dog goes and it will negate the alkaline PH of the dog's baptism of the grass.
ReplyDeleteYou learn somethin' new every day when blogging :)
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed an excellent suggestion, and especially timely: yesterday, my prime weeding area was under our lilac tree. I pulled out everything that was "easy" to pull out and saved everything with a taproot for later, when I could grab a trowel! Including...dandelions. Have always wanted to try dandelion wine and I do come from a family where people used to do things like grow apples and make hard cider so it would be embracing a family tradition. For that matter...lilacs can be wine-ified as well...uh oh, new-hobby-high coming on.
As for the dog pee...if you saw the rest of the lawn, you would quickly see why I don't bother worrying about where he goes...it's a patchy affair as mud-season (NH's fifth season) did it in, and it was s'posed to be redone by the landlord this summer. It's beyond the point of any kind of rehab and the pooch enjoys the freedom :)