I’ve been fighting weeds on my property for most of the time I’ve lived in this house. It took them about a year to get started, but once they did, it became a constant battle. In fact, it’s the biggest challenge I face in getting my back yard under control, let alone to make it what I want it to be.
At the moment, the biggest challenge is still clearing the weeds that grew around the edges of the patio, but today I went to the other side of the house where there’s one spot that had the same problem. The photos up top are of a spot right next to the side door that goes from the garage to the spot where the clothesline used to be attached to the fence. Obvious, but left is before, right is after.
Undeneath that mass of (mostly) dead weeds (kikuyu) were three black rubbish bags and an LPG (aka propane) gas tank. Those weeds took around nine months to get to that point. I clear the weeds there once or twice a year, but this time was a bit longer than usual. So, my first step was to spray weed killer on them. A week or so later, I sprayed them again, and they finally started dying.
The thing is, the only reason I thought of spraying them is because the compressor unit for the ducted air conditioning is just along the wall from this spot, and the weeds were starting to grow behind and next to it. I couldn’t get the line trimmer behind the unit, and I don’t use it every week where I can use it. So, I decided to try to kill the weeds instead. Since I was out there spraying, anyway, I sprayed the kikuyu mountain, too.
Actually. , it was the second attempt at spraying that worked. A couple weeks earlier I sprayed an “organic” weedspray. It did nothing. A week or so later, I used the spray again. Still nothing. So, finally, I used stronger weed killer, and also twice, but this time it worked.
The mountain of kikuyu was mostly dead, so it was somewhat easier to remove than it would have been if it was alive, but I still needed to cut it up with secateurs before putting it into a large black sack. Once I cleared all that, I needed to deal with the three black bags that were underneath them.
When I clear weeds anywhere on the property I put them into back rubbish bags to begin to make sure they’re dead, and to let them start to break down. Then, I dump them into my compost bin to finish breajing down. This seems tp work better with kikuyu, which is extremely difficult to compost.
When I empty out the compost bin each summer, I take the oldest black bags and put the contents into the compost bin. And that repeats every year. However, those particular black bags have been there longer. In fact, two of them had weeds I’d pulled out of the bank along the side of the property, something I know because there were chunks of bark mixed in. All of those black rubbish bags are now in one big black sack (it’s the one in front—you don’t need to know that, but including that fact here will hep me remember it later). Because the back back contains weeds that were sprayed, I need to give that stuff some extra time to make sure any residue (and there’s probably not much after all the rain we’ve had…) can finish breaking down.
That LPG bottle is one Nigel and I bought many years ago. In fact, ten years ago it reached the date at which it needed to be tested (at our expense) or taken to the tip (dump) to have it disposed of responisbly (at out expense). But, it still had gas in it we wanted to use up—and, in fact, it still does. The problem is that I’ve never used my barbecue, and I’m not sure I even know how (Nigel always did the BBQing, and the only kind I’ve ever used had charcoal).
The other thing visible is the hose reel thatis once again the hose reel I’ll be using, since the handle broke off the one I’d had on the patio (this one’s handle is aluminium). Which I haven’t needed a hose in awhile, I will be needing a hoose, and, fortunately, I’ve now liberated that hose.
This was a good test run for what I plan to do with the weeds around the patio, sp I now have a plan of action. It’s also possible that some of the weeds in the black rubbish bags came from near the patio.
Once all that was done (it took me maybe an hour or so), I went inside to have some water and to rest and cool down. Then, I went back out and mowed the back lawn, something I also did last week, but I was suprised at how much the lawn itself had gown so much in one week when last week, despite all the rain, it was mainly the weed stalks that had grown. I’m probably the only person who finds that interesting, but that’s not unusual.
Today I completed an outside project and an also an outside chore. Sure, maybe I should’ve worked on the bigger project around the patio instead, but progress is progress, and sometimes that’s really all that matters. Today was one of those times.
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