country n news-nuisances

COUNTRY N NEWS-NUISANCES 

here at the country n
we have two nuisances that we fight all the time
one is a noxious weed
brought from overseas where its native
to south carolina as a forage crop
and
man has it taken over areas

our neighbor has a pasture of this stuff which is baled for hay
however
those seeds blow over onto my property
where it pops up here and yonder

its called johnson grass
it grows by rhizomes that are a bugger bear to get rid of

if you dont get rid of it when it pops up
it will gradually spread all across the property wherever
bare ground appears

i even had it in my garden but ive been able to aggressively
pull it up wherever it pops up
composting it to later use as compost in the garden

however its hard to do that elsewhere
so
i was listening to the natural garden show
to two of the folks regularly on there
they very carefully and very conservatively
spot treats weeds with
i almost hate to write this
roundup
so
if they do it in their organic yards
then
i decided i would do it
so i carefully spot spry each individual plant
and
that seems to keep them under control
the orange oil soap vinegar weed killer doesnt quite wipe
them out

now i feel better since i have confessed to using roundup
however
i would never just randomly spray it on my yard

the other nuisance plant is the
hackberry

it commonly is planted along fence lines by birds
they do a good job around the country n of planting
those hackberries

now over the last 15 years we have lived here
i have spent $2000 having hackberries cut down
around my house
since
they have reached the end of their lives
living 20 or so years
getting big
threatening the roof and the house
one big wind storm can blow them over as they
get older

now in nature
they are native
and
a good source of food for lots of birds
we get flocks of a yellow bird each winter that
goes through all the hackberries eating all the seeds
the problem in the yard is they get deposited everywhere
just not where you want them planted

now on my 10 acres if they are not planted where they
will be a nuisance
i let them live since they are a good food source for animals

but
heres the way i get rid of them
if you just cut them down
they will sprout and sprout new growth off the tree stump

yes its confession time again
after i cut down the small trees
i carefully paint the trunk with concentrated roundup
that seems to kill them

so now i feel better
i got that off my chest
i can sleep better at night now

i would never just randomly spray that stuff

i routinely use my orange oil vinegar soap mixture
especially in the summer
to kill weeds
spray it on in the heat of the day
its a kiss of death for weeds
the organic way to kill weeds

the organicgreen doctor