I spent the better part of Friday taming the jungle that used to be Smooch's yard...trimming the chamisa,
weed-whacking anything taller than my ankles, and pulling goatheads. It was deja vu all over again,
as the post below – from August 20 last year – will attest.
***
The ranch has been truly blessed by the summer monsoons. My acres of brown dirt have become a verdant meadow,
covered with plants and grasses and wildflowers the likes of which I have never seen.
"If it's green, it's good," I say, with only a few exceptions. Meet this summer's major exception:
This delicate, happy, little yellow flower...
...is now turning into an evil, sharp, dog-paw piercing fruit, which will dry and become the bane of Smooch's existence.
Out here we call them goatheads. My dearly beloved Willie takes great umbrage at the comparison.
There's a bumper crop of the stuff this year, and I spent the better part of the weekend
yanking it out of the back yard and the paths where Smooch and I walk.
The yellow flowers make it relatively easy to spot amongst all the other green stuff, but I will admit
to being totally overwhelmed by the task. There's no way I can make a dent in getting rid of it all.
I'll do the best I can, but I've already warned Smooch that she may have to wear shoes on our walks this fall.
Worst case, I'll get her a stroller.
I guess that is what is called a sisyphean task
ReplyDeleteHa! Smooch in a stroller. I don't think so. Too many distractions along the way. It's all green chez moi too. Lots of rain this summer.
ReplyDeleteBA SP
we have a dreaded weed in our side yard that we call beggar lice, it grows like crazy and the seeds, hundreds of them stick all over the dogs faces and coats, they move them around the yard and bring them in the house, they stick like glue... we never had them until this summer. we sprayed with vinegar, using a weed sprayer, pure vinegar kills all it touches, but it might work for Smooches yard... it is best to use 10 percent if you can find it, using 5 percent has to be done twice. those stickers are horrible.
ReplyDeleteNext will be the tumbleweed babies to pull up. Plant yourself on your bottom and pull the weeds all around you----that's how I pull a large patch of weeds. Keeps me from having to take a handful of Advil to nurse a sore back, knees and legs from bending/squatting all day.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I've seen, that they use flembeing for the plants they dont want to grow on the wegetadle fiels. I dont know, would that helped or have any sense at all in your case.
ReplyDeleteWe have a place in Canada at the northern edge of the Sonoran desert. That weed is there also, and is called Puncture Vine (Tribulus terristris). It is said to be able to puncture tires, maybe just bike tires, but it sure is sharp and tough, deadly on bare feet:(
ReplyDelete