According to Einstein, I am insane. Apparently, he said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results!”. And when it comes to weeding, he’s quite right. Every time I put a poison on my weeds, I expect them to die and stay dead. But they never do. I suspect that I am suffering from eternal-weed syndrome.
We have brick pathways and stones in the back garden. It’s supposed to be less work in our ensuing old age. The poison takes about 7-10 days to work and in that time, the weeds quickly drop their seeds. Hence the next weedy generation pops up about a month later. I can’t pull them out of the brickwork, they just break off. So, let’s try something different.
We have just had four puppies born and so now I am particularly averse to covering the ground in poison. Regular readers of my column may remember that I nearly killed my lemon tree by using a home-made white oil (mix 1/4 dishwashing liquid, 1/4 oil, 1/2 water). It nearly killed a tree! So surely it can kill the weeds in my path? Yes! In less than a week. And it’s biodegradable and cheap and plentiful, and it won’t kill puppies.
I tried something different and it worked. Einstein would be proud of me. Happy Gardening!