All Natural
Woman in the Middle | February 27, 2012Part of my weekend was spent weeding. I had a small bank in the front yard at my old house and that puppy was a pain. Getting anything to grow on it was nigh on impossible, except for weeds, of course. So I vowed that my next house would have no banks. (Lots of laughter now.) Instead I have even more bank to deal with, in more than one place on our lot, and those banks are steeper and taller and all the things I didn’t want. Life is an ironic thing, isn’t it?
Those banks really needed some attention before the prime weed growing season really kicks into high gear. I have discovered a couple of things over the last year and a half:
1. Of you ignore tumbleweeds long enough they blow away. One day there is a three and a half foot tall ugly looking ball of a weed just taunting you with its size and prickliness. Then the wind kicks up over night and Voila! Clean weed free area!
2. Some of the things that grow can be termed “native plants” and “drought tolerant landscaping.” As in “we decided to grow native plants on our bank because they are drought tolerant.”
Of course, in our desert area, anything that is native tends to look dead and be a fire hazard for six (or more) months of the year. Everything comes with strings!
When we bought this house we also inherited a whole bunch of something I refer to as “junk trees.” We used to get them at the old house, these trees that popped up out of nowhere. We always tried to get them out before they were three feet tall. Well, that isn’t what happened here. First of all, there are dozens of them. Second, it is obvious that the previous owners just cut them off at the base, over and over again. I tried that. I hired a teen age boy to go through and cut each one off at the base. I figure that, even though I knew they would grow back, it would stunt their growth for a while. (Lots of laughter again) Instead in about a month they were back, just about as tall as they were before. Cutting them off just encouraged them to grow.
Hubby decided to get his pick and shovel out on Saturday and took out six of those crazy things. Yeah!!!! I also planted a pomegranate tree. Here is hoping I can keep it alive! With pomegranates costing $2 each in the store, I thought I would just grow my own. We shall see how that goes! In a couple of years I might be trying to get rid of pomegranates to my friends and neighbors, just like I am trying to get rid of oranges now!
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