I've spent the past several days pulling weeds... or shall we say this stuff!
Yes, the evilness that the residents of southern states call a lawn! I know some of you recognize this and are shuddering now thinking about when you are going to get out there and pull it! For those lucky enough to not know what this is, it's Bermudagrass (fescue won't grow in the summer heat here). I pulled one chain and it went on for about 5 feet, ugh! This is the one thing I know of down here that would cause a person to find themselves in the herbicide aisle at the big box stores buying Roundup at an off hour (so nobody would see you)! Or maybe in line at the pharmacy waiting to fill a prescription for Xanax? Don't worry, I haven't given in... yet. Actually, even Monsanto can't stop this stuff, I call it bamboo grass. Instead doping up immediately after round 5 of the fight, I made the mistake of lying down on the couch for 20 minutes only to realize that during those 20 minutes my vertebrae apparently went on strike, it took me another 5 minutes to get up with much moaning and groaning - the kids are probably looking up numbers for the nearest senior care facility :) Know what's insane? People PAY for rolls of this so-called turf!
And who put that there?
A willow decided to grow right in the middle of the traffic pattern! I sat down and just stared at this for at least 5 minutes before deciding that hubby will deal with it later :)
Hmmmm..... what am I thinking about the below photo?
I have about 3 dozen tomatoes that need a home, and one big ol' Burning Bush taking up a really nice piece of real estate behind the fenced garden... PERFECT for a separate tomato garden! Except that's all Bermudagrass, #^%$)@#!! Maybe another action item for the hubs? He worked 17 hours yesterday and got home at 10 pm, do you think my "list" might have something to do with it? ")
Now for some good stuff -
Forsythia is in bloom, finally. The wierd "reverse-effect" of our mild weather is that it's blooming really late - it normally blooms in my yard at the end of February when it's cold and icky out, I was starting to think it was dead!
The bees are very busy already. This is my "neighbor blinding" hedge of Carolina Jessamine. So called because I grew it on a cattle panel underneath so when I sit on my front porch I don't have to look at the neighbor's unmowed lawn and junk pile LOL
Tomatoes are ready to start hardening off whenever I can remember to do it.
Peppers
Basil is already spending the day out on the deck...
Tonight?
Chicken Pot Pie with a side of ibuprofen.
I think you should add a glass or three of wine with that ibuprofen! That's what I'm doing. The ibuprofen didn't work....so, I added a little wine. Now I feel fine!
ReplyDeleteYour seedlings look great! I just noticed that the forsythia is in full bloom around here. Crazy weather....I hope Mother Nature doesn't decide to do something crazy, like snow in April!
Robin, there were mosquitoes out already here today, aaaarrrrgh!
DeleteI hate that grass - The military seems to think that all military housing has to have that stuff. Thankfully our new house doesn't even have grass so I get to pick what I want in the backyard. Your tomato and peppers look great. Mine are way behind yours but I still have another 3 to 4 weeks before they can even think about moving to the garden.
ReplyDeleteChristy, nice you get to pick! We dug up half the yard already and laid gravel down about 5 years ago, but I would love to have no grass at all LOL
DeleteOk.. I have tomato envy (NOT grass envy!). By the calendar I should be able to start mine this weekend. Buy the weather, I should be hardening them off- but I don't trust the weather. It is still March in Iowa.
ReplyDeleteMy forsythia that I planted last year should be blooming- except that Vernon accidentally ran over it with the lawn tractor time last fall. He was quite adamant that he didn't MOW it. No- but he still broke off every bit with the tire. sigh....
Judy
Judy, I'm waiting until my usual date of beginning of April for putting my stuff out, I'm in no rush to battle bugs and I just know Mother Nature has it in for us this year!
DeletePreach on Sista. Bermuda will grow through anything. The only solution that I've found is to lay cardboard (super thick and overlapping) THEN cover that with weed fabric and then cover THAT with mulch. So far so good and Psst...Roundup just turns it brown. Makes you THINK you're killing it but it's faking you out. I know. I've tried. You really CANT kill that stuff.
ReplyDeleteTami, yep, I just keep on pulling it and cussing at it LOL
DeleteI was busy chewing my supper, very nonchalant supper,and reading on about your garden and than my mouth dropped open as I view that beautiful pot pie.We once had a new home build by my brothers and part of the deal is ,put in your own landscaping. we sodded the back( very huge corner lot) and seeded the front yard. It all came up weeds out front ,I called my handy dandy neighbor who owned his own plant business,he said "buy round up"ye gads in that neighbor hood ,people got mad if a dandelion crossed the property line got out of that neighborhood but wish I still had that house and its $330.00 a month payment and that was at 9%-OMG,with interest the way it is today my payments would be about 50 bucks oh but than the price of the house would probably be quadrupled
ReplyDeleteJudy, house prices and payments are insane these days, everything is so over valued!
DeleteI agree with tami, you really can't kill that stuff!! I've tried and failed. It's all over in my garden. Just FYI - I have tomato, pepper, and basil envy. Nice job! Mine are little bits of green. But the tomatoes are up! Oh, and your chicken pot pie looks great. I'm sitting here ignoring the world till the last minute just wondering what to make for dinner.
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Lori, I was lucky tonight - I actually made 2 of those last week so this one was a freezer meal!
DeleteWe have that grass and I hate it. Don't even try Roundup, it doesn't work on Bermuda, maybe it is a breed from Monsanto. I did find a tool that helps to remove the grass at Lowes. It is a metal tool with four spikes that go into the ground. It is about 3 feet tall and has handles that you use to twist the spikes in the dirt. It is the only thing I have found that helps. If I twist the area before planting to remove the roots I have much less grass. Gardening would be so easy without that stupid grass.
ReplyDeletePeggi, when I hear people complaining about having to remove regular fescue from an area it makes me laugh a bit, they don't even know!
DeleteI loathe Bermuda grass!!! It is all over our backyard and trying it's very best to invade every. single. vegetable. bed. Your seedlings look awesome by the way!
ReplyDeleteAnke, I think sometimes that if we go on vacation that stuff might swallow our whole house and we won't be able to find it when we get home LOL
DeleteKnow what's really extreme? We have one of those propane weed torches, we call it the "Flamethrower"... it doesn't even kill it LOL but it's fun to do anyways :)
ReplyDeleteSo, I guess I'm like the ONLY person on the planet that is actively TRYING to get bermuda grass going in the pasture? Maybe because it has yet to invade my gardens......I'll let you know how I feel about it when / if that happens.
ReplyDeleteEven though we've already eaten....if that pot pie were in front of me I'd eat two helpings. It looks sooooooo good!
That pot pie looks great! And so do all those plants waiting to grow up into yummy things. Blech to Bermuda Grass!!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, so maybe we suffer from frostbite now and then and have about a 23 day growing season up here but we don't have Bermuda grass!
ReplyDeleteYour seedlings look super-healthy as usual, Erin. Wanna start a greenhouse when you move back to Minnesota?
I had to give in to the evils of glyphosate when my new neighbor moved in, and it does work, but not with just one application. If I didn't keep her Bermuda grass sprayed at the fence line, it would soon fill my garden. Not gonna happen on my watch! You can't cut or dig it, every where a root breaks, ten thousand roots grow. I counted them ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'd sure go for that pot pie with the side of ibuprofen.
Those pepper and that basil look amazing! We just planted pepper seeds tonight. I hope ours turn out that great too.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is months ahead of mine. We just 4inches of snow dumped on us last night. Thankfully it's already melted mostly. I have a lilac taking up prime space in my yard and I'm thinking that this spring after it blooms it may get the chop.
ReplyDeleteI think I know why my basil didn't do so well. It got too cold at night for it. So this year I'm going to wait until it's good and warm before I attempt to plant any outside.
Wow, your seedlings are making me nervous. My calendar tells me I should start mine this week, the weather is telling me otherwise. Your's look great.
ReplyDeleteOh Bermuda Grass, that and weeds are all we have for a lawn down here. You can get other grass to grow with much work and chemicals, but I can't bring myself to that. I pulled a bunch of that grass out of my garden beds a few weeks ago. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteYour tomato starts look great. And that Basil....so jealous!
Three dozen tomato plants? Holy cow! You are going to have a lot of canning to do, but it will be nice in winter to have the results of all the work waiting for you in the pantry.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the Bermuda grass. Sadly, even "contractor weight" landscape fabric (black felted stuff that's a full inch thick) won't stop it. Maybe your boys would enjoy "engaging the enemy," seeing who could pull the longest rhizome from the garden? If you could pull a "Tom Sawyer" on the neighborhood kids, a lot of progress could be made in a fairly short time.
Your peppers and tomatoes look so lovely.
ReplyDeleteBermudagrass is the devil completely. I am forever digging it up. It can be discouraged in that big patch if you really want to, but it would be a few months of digging, solarizing, redigging. . . by next year you could use it.
Your seedlings look great Erin, I need to pot up my tomatoes and start my peppers later today. I am interested to see what develops in your yard over the next few weeks, lol.
ReplyDeleteLooks like your summer garden is on it's way to lookin' great! Hope your back feels better soon. :)
ReplyDeleteSo sorry I didn't respond to all your comments, but I appreciate each and every one! I am way underwater on a bunch of stuff right now and the kids have been running me ragged with their activities and I "volunteered" LOL for some things at church this week so I was swamped! I am seriously needing that pot pie again tonight unfortunately had to settle for bean burritos on our way out again :) Will for sure be blogging tomorrow!
ReplyDelete