Spring Time: Time for Work

Spring time here, like all other places I'm sure, means one thing.  Work.  And, unfortunately, the bad work comes before the fun work.  This is why:

Yea, baby.  Those be weeds.  And, a sage in the background that needs to be trimmed back.  Actually, it needed to be trimmed back six weeks ago.  And, yes, that weed in the front has gone to flower.  That's how I roll.

You see, living where we do, we get a lot of weeds.  I mean A LOT.  There is a field directly behind our house that is a la naturale.  So, every California weed known to mankind blows into my yard.  I can't bring myself to pull them in the winter for a couple of reasons.  First, I'll just need to pull them again in the spring, thus doubling and/or tripling my work.  Second, it's cold in the winter.  Yes, I live in California, so we have "winter", but we're also "weenies", because we only have "winter".  Plus, I had other winter time things I was working on.

Normally, for my weed chores, I'll use this for the majority of the stuff:

It works pretty good on stuff like this:

Not so good on grass, though.  And, it seems I have a lot of grass growing in places it shouldn't.  Kind of like hair when you hit 40.  Anyway, with grass it tends to leave it like this:

Yep, it just scoots along the top.  Scoot being the technical gardening term used by master gardeners everywhere.  So, the grass I'm going to need a different tact for.  Unfortunately, grabbing and pulling leaves most if not all the roots, so that defeats the purpose.  But, I have a plan.  I concocted it while driving home from work.  So, it's bound to work.  And, no, it does not involve chemicals, as I don't put that crap on my yard.  It involves a stick.  And, a lot of duct tape.

Ok, I'm kidding about the duct tape...

Holy Crap, Gardening Happened!!

My son missed three days of school last week with the flu.  Yesterday and today, my poor wife came down with the same illness.  Or, at least the same symptoms.  I, being the most excellent husband that I am, called in sick to work so I could get my son to school and watch my daughter as my wife rested.  Funny, because if I were the one ill, I would have absolutely gone to work.  Who wants to waste a sick day being sick?

Both yesterday and today we topped out at nearly 80F (26C).  That timed with a nap by both the two year old and my wife allowed me to get outside a little.  I was able to fill a five gallon bucket full of weeds in no time flat.  I would also like to throw in that included a vast majority of the yard, thus there aren't many weeds!  Take that!  Actually, we don't get our weeds until spring, and they continue through until late June or July when the 100F+ (38C+) kills them off.

I was also able to get in a little fertilizing and some pruning.  Look at me go.

The World's Biggest Weed

Cortaderia Selloana, aka Pampas Grass.  From the Sunset website:

"This well-known landscaping form ofCortaderia—like its truly weedy and noxious cousin C. jubata—may send its seeds into the wind under certain circumstances to germinate and grow wherever they land. For that reason, nurseries in some areas no longer sell Cortaderia at all. Many horticulturists recommend against further landscaping with C. selloana and suggest removing it from gardens that border wild lands. Be sure to grub out volunteer Cortaderia seedlings whenever they appear."


We will be removing this.  Gladly.  What they fail to mention is that it will also become home to every piece of vermin in existence.  My lovely wife called me at work the other day to inform me that the noxious bush must go, as it currently has the permanent lovely aroma of urine.  I'm honestly frightened to tackle it.  It currently stands about nine feet high and just as wide.  Every year is spent removing the volunteers, which normally needs to be done with a shovel as they grab hold quickly.


The City has even sent flyers to the citizens specifically asking them to no longer plant this.  I don't blame them in the slightest.


Addendum, May 25:  We tackled this over the weekend and a little advice, long sleeve shirt and tape or tuck your trousers to your boots.  I'm not sure how, but the full length of a few grass blades made it the full length of my trousers.  Let me tell you, the blades contain cerrations, or teeth, or whatever you want to call them.  Horrible pulling those things out.

Weed Abatement

At least that's what the City calls it.  I must applaud the City's methods of keeping the green belt behind our house under control.  They have the opportunity to use various herbicides, but don't.

Here in Southern California wildfires are always a threat.  In our four years in this home, we have had one behind our house on this hill.  By the way, this picture was taken from the back fence.  I have not mentioned it up to this point, but we purchased this home from my in-laws.  I highly recommend this practice in California for property tax reasons.  I digress, though, as my in-laws have informed me that wildfires on this particular hill seem to happen every few years.  The closest coming within 20 yards of the property.  We get sheep during the winter months, as I believe they eat only the greenery.  During the summer when the hill is brown, we get goats, who eat anything whether edible or not.  The Gas Company will bulldoze this area to make access to the natural gas pipe (visible in the picture to the right) and that does clear approximately 30 yards of open space from the back fence.  I must say, the sound of sheep during the day while enjoying the backyard is a welcome change.  Much better than a bulldozer.