Weeds

I can’t believe it’s happening again: obsessions with the garden. As some people may remember I was completely obsessed with the slugs in the garden when we lived in England. Thankfully with the help of moving, therapy, and very strong medications I have now moved beyond that (well mostly). But now, here I am and it has started all over again. This time it's dandelions.

Last year we noticed we had some in the yard. They got pretty bad, but Andrea handled most of it. I really wasn’t too bothered. But this year...this year, that’s not the case. It started out with it not being a big problem. I got a weed puller, pulled some weeds, and felt pretty good about myself. I remember thinking "this is no big deal".

The next day there were more weeds and I again pulled them up. But quickly my attitude changed and I began to get scared… real scared. Now they are everywhere. They are multiplying faster then rabbits and growing like, well, you know, weeds. I even see weeds when I close my eyes.

Given that I work on a psychiatric unit, I have consulted people and upped my medications, but that’s not helping. So I looked for organic remedies. My criteria were simple: can’t pollute the ground water, can’t kill my children or those of our neighbors, and it has to be effective. This is what I came up with: nothing. There are no methods that work that meet these criteria.

However, here is what I have learned. I can pull them, but unless I get the whole root, all 10”, it will simply grow back. I can use vinegar, but that does not kill the root. I can use a thermal heater, but I can’t imagine using something that will potentially get stuck in my foot and then send electricity through me. Or I can use a flame thrower. You can use your imagination as to why I don’t want to use that one.

I have thought of one other method of sure fire weed removal: I could just cement the entire yard.