Seattle’s winter 2008 has been too long, too gray, and too cold for this transplanted soul. But one day of sunshine can erase the memories of the drab and dreary days past and induce a euphoric state of optimism.
Saturday was just that sort of day as I left home for a romp in the Washington Arboretum Annual Plant Sale. Gazing across the lawn, I noticed a soft blurry blanket of white dandelion fluff hovering six inches above most of my lawn. As I backed out of the driveway I noticed more dandelion foam cresting over the front slope. I confess I’ve been harboring thoughts of chemical weed killers. The weed mass being so much bigger than my time and energy makes the promise of quick weed eradication tempting. “Darn, I’ll have to deal with that as soon as I return”, I thought .
My imagination fueled with pictures from last month’s Sunset magazine still in my mind, I selected four coleus plants in different shades, envisioning a lush, tropical container gracing my back deck. My checking account balance having kept my enthusiasm and imagination in check, I head home to deal with the dandelions before finding the right spot for my new additions.
I open up the trunk, lift out the flat of plants and walk up the path to the house. To my delight, my garden fairy godmother, in the form of my neighbor Audrey, has mowed my lawn and all its fluff has disappeared. My spirits buoyed by this unexpected gift of hours saved by not hand pulling weeds, I suddenly recall a funny story I heard about vacuuming dandelions.
Armed with extension cords and a shop vacuum, I wade into the flower beds on the slope. The nozzle of the hose fits perfectly over the dandelion heads. Instantly the fluff is gone. The dandelions are tall enough to prevent the vacuum from sucking up the soil. This is brilliant! Note to self: thank Denise for this idea! In a few minutes I have stopped the dandelions from spreading while I find time for pulling them out. WOW.
All right, yes, it probably has a huge carbon footprint, but like the biodiesel debacle it has the satisfying delusion of being an immediate solution, damn the consequences approach. In fact, it was so satisfying and so quick, I decide to vacuum my neighbor’s rock garden in gratitude for her gift of lawnmowing. She’s a nanny and one of her young charges is helping her today. I let him vacuum the dandelions. We decide to get matching t-shirts that say “I Suck!”.
That was so quick I have time to weed whack the backyard. Oh my gawd! I’ve got chickweeds. I’ve never had them before. In an hour of so, with the help of electricity I have the back dandelions and chickweeds under control with time left over for attacking the horsetails. All winter I have suffered under the delusion that my horsetail killing program had been successful. Alas they were simply dormant. The horsetails are back and thriving. Local gardening guru, Ciscoe, says to learn to love them.He also says to cut them off below ground. I’ve found the best way to cut off below ground is to use the hula hoe. It works great!
Having put the temporary end to the horsetails in the pea gravel, I hand weed the flower beds of horsetails.
Weeding is therapeutic for me. Is it a good thing. I wonder, as I clip the horsetails off below grade, if there’s a tiny hula hoe tool? Maybe there’s a kitchen gadget that could be repurposed. Maybe a hair cutting device? I need the equivalent of shop vacuum that cuts horsetails. I suspect that imagination is the key to successful gardening. Who knew weed control could be so creative?