Fighting the Battle

[mapsedge]

It's been a running battle in my front yard, one that I've been fighting with varying degrees of success year to year, ever since high school. It is a battle that I am determined to win this year, even if I have to drown the battlefield in non-selective, broad spectrum herbicide and wade ankle deep through the tiny dessicated corpses of my enemy.

I'm speaking, of course, of clover, yard violet, chickweed, crabgrass, and dandelions.

As I was growing up, going out in the front yard - or worse, the back yard - without shoes was a gamble. Many was the time I hopped back to the front porch after stepping into a thistle plant. My father wasn't much of a gardener, even though he spent a good deal of his pre- and post-WWII life as a farmer, and even less of a landscape artist. If it was green, he welcomed it as "yard". He was not selective as to his "yard" plants, and I never saw him reseed a dead area or, God forbid, fertilize.

This gave my childhood a front yard to play in that looked like a missle testing site.

Now that I own the property, I have babied the yard as much as time and finances would allow and now I have a space where my children can run barefoot without worry (except in the back yard where the dogs - er, run, so to speak). They enjoy a lawn that is thick, mature, and mostly soft.

It's not without its problem areas. Scotts changed their formulation - or the dandelions have been stealing state secrets from the Russians - because I put down two applications this year and the weeds laughed it off and kept coming. Clover is advancing, yard violets are taking up reinforcing positions to my rear, and pockets of chickweed are slowly emerging in my center.

Time for the big guns. I pulled out The Ortho Broadleaf  Weed and Grass Killer. I loaded my weapon of choice, an adjustable siphon sprayer, and covered the front lawn.

An hour later, it rained. Doesn't it just figure.

The poison did have time to do some damage. The chickweek is almost all dead, there's not a dandelion to be found, and the yard violets are I hope gasping their last. The clover may have survived, beaten but not broken.

It's okay. I'm patient. I have more Ortho. And next time, I'll check the weather report.

The only plant I wish I could exterminate entirely are the yard violets, since I hate the way they smell, but this is not to say that I'm going to kill every weed within my grasp. Far from it. I have put no chemicals in the back yard, and do not plan to. There are, in fact, areas of the back yard that are thick with clover that I'm going to let grow without mowing for as long as I can stand it. 

The raised bed are in, and with them comes the promise of (eventually) vegetables. I want to attract bees to my yard, and if I remember my childhood story books correctly, bees love clover. As plants go it's a good plant to have if you want healthy soil, as it adds nitrogen back in. It's also soft on the toes. Bees and nitrogen rich soil. An all around beneficial plant to have.

I'm letting the area between the redbuds go to seed as well, a combination of clover and yard grasses - fescue I think. It'll be pretty I think.

Comments

[eacole72.livejournal.com]

the dandelions have been stealing state secrets from the Russians

That's my vote.

We have neighbors who sit in their front yards on summer evenings with six-packs of beer to drink as they dig out the dandelions with spoons. Yes, they are insane.

Our response was to find a new Lawn Guy who is also a licensed chemical applicator who will do the whole thing for us.

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

dig out the dandelions with spoons.

That's a level of dedication that's totally screwed up.

I finally called a local company called The Grass Pad to get info on killing dandelions and they pointed me to a product called Speed Zone. $20 a bottle. Spray it on, done. Lowes had the consumer equiv.

is it...

[themadblonde]

JUST for dandelions? I don't like the broad spectrum because, hey, I GROW violets. Deliberately. But if I could find a way to kill the creeping charlie, spurge, &/or JUST the dandelions, I'd be pretty happy.

Re: is it...

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

The Ortho? ALL broadleaf weeds, including yard violets. You'd have to avoid spraying those if you want to keep them. Ornamentals and grass (fescue, bluegrass, zoisia, rye, etc etc etc) are supposedly safe if you're careful. It didn't hurt our lawn (which is mostly fescue) or the peonies (so far).

not sure...

[themadblonde]

that I know what you mean by "yard violet." You mean common violets? Or is this something else?

Re: not sure...

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

I've never known to call them anything else. Small, ground hugging, heart shaped leaves and purple flowers, they spread like smoke and are extremely aggressive and hard to kill. They smell bad when you mow them.

See http://www.lawnpro-kc.com/lp/weeds.html - look for "wild violet."

Good site, thanks.

[themadblonde]

I know several of those weeds by other names (oxalis=wood sorrel; ground ivy=creeping charlie) but yes, if what they're calling "wild violets" (& you would find in a flower guide as common violets) is your "yard violet" (how cute! never heard them called that before) that is what I mean by common violet. I can't say I've ever known them to be particularly agressive, unlike creeping charlie which is truly evil, aggressive, has heart-shaped leaves & purple flowers but is smaller & MUCH harder to control. I've also never known violets to smell bad. I've picked hundreds of them over the years- they are a staple of my May Day baskets & bud vases, & if untreated can be eaten so I frequently add mine to salads.

I'd say we have most of those villains in our tiny yard. In addition to evil dandelions (the hatred of which I honestly inherited from my Grandmother who fought a lifelong war with them), I most hate creeping charlie, & either (or possibly both) purslane or speedwell. We certainly have spurge too, & plantains, but both are easier to rip up than the evil, stringy little ground huggers that infest our yard. Can't tell for sure w/out looking closer whether it's purslane or speedwell, or both, but I hates them, I does, filthy little weedses.....

Re: Good site, thanks.

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

The smell of the yard violet comes not from the blossoms, but from the stems when cut or walked on. It's not a cloyingly nauseating smell like, say, roadkill, but is somewhat like bitter, moldy citrus.

[glesyn.livejournal.com]

Dandelions are bullies as far as I'm concerned.

We finally cracked and paid for Scott's service to come out with their industrial-strength-bully-be-gone stuff.

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

A friendly note on the subject of paying someone else:

Lawn service: $50.

Ortho Broadleaf Weed Killer: $10 + 30 minutes

The results are the same, as near as I can tell. The only extra expense is the sprayer, but even with that added in (only once!) it's still cheaper.

We did a lawn service once*, but they weren't doing anything I couldn't do if I'd just set my mind to it and take the time.

If you want the industrial stuff, you can buy that too from The Grass Pad. It's called SpeedZone, and it's about $20 a bottle.

* Ryan Lawn and Tree. If you must have a service, we recommend them.