Hello I'm Sweet Pea Hoover and welcome to Backyard Basics
Today we're going to take a glance at weeds.
Its been said they're simply wild flowers that are misunderstood, but I'm going to take
it a step further and try to show that natures trying to tell you something about the soil
that you've got.
Nature by nature doesn't like bare spots, its going to try to fill it in with something.
So its then your job to tell it how much and where you'd like it to be.
I'd like to start with the theory about the healthy blade of grass.
If you have a well balance lawn, it can out compete any weed that's trying to grow through
it.
But because we were part of the weather restriction, the watering restrictions and the drought
restrictions last season, we're having a lot of issues with bare spots this season.
I'd like you to start to take a look at the some of the broadleaf weeds that I found in
just some samples.
First one I'd like to look at is the Henbit.
Many people see this it has a square stem, its in the mint and its known by it purple
and pink tubular flowers that usually adorn all of our lawns in spring.
That's not necessarily a good thing, it has 200 seeds per plant.
The good news is that it's shallow rooted and with just a little tugging, that is the
sophisticated root system involved.
Kids have a really good success with pulling these out, so I'd say busy hands are happy
hands lets get out future gardeners out there.
Lets move on to our next weed which is Black Medic.
In the Hoover family, most people note this by the small yellow flowers that appears in
spring.
It has some positive benefits that its reentering nitrogen just the same way that you'd be entering
a cover crop like the red clover as our winter cover crops.
Its trying to do the same thing.
Nature is trying to put the balance nitrogen back into out soil.
However, it is so compact in the middle and its mini tamp root a little struggle to get
out.
However when you do you can see sometimes that this stretches between six and twenty
six inches.
Lets see if we can get one of those nodes.
There'd be a nitrogen node right there.
Trying to get that back in the soil and give you balance, but if we don't get it out in
time its going to suffocate and not let our turf come back through it.
So the important thing is to by the time you're treating you lawn and getting a fertilizer
in that we've got these compact and suffocating weeds out.
I also want to move to look at our next weed which is the Salfisol also related to the
Dandelion.
The Salfisol can be one that you'd be able to get with the lawn mower if you haven't
had time to get down to the taproot.
It is deeply rooted, and you would need a tool to get that out.
The difference between a dandelion and a salfisol is that it has several blooms on it.
That means several seed packets that will floating in the air and replacing its self
in the soil.
The over all message that I'd like to get over all these weeds is that the sooner you
can break the seeds cycle...A very natural way
Hello I'm Sweet Pea welcome to Backyard Basics
Today we're going to explore some ways to battle weeds that are already in our yard
or try to get it before they show up.
We'll be discussing pre-emergence, post emergence, when to apply and how.
Lets start with corn gluten one of our most popular pre-emergence and when we say that
we're trying to nip the seed before it geminates.
It's a powder or beside so you can sprinkle it at a rate that your nursery would be happy
to help you with.
It is best applied in mid to early February when you start to see the warmth come up for
your Daffodils, thats a great cue that you should be putting that down and getting those
weeds before they start flourishing with our spring rains.
Post emergence are what is already existing and how we're going to be them.
We have some great natural products that I'd love to explore with you.
Our first one is Gringo.
It is all food grade.
Vinegar, orange oil, kind of pleasant smelling.
You want to apply these things in either early morning when the sun can actually help battle
these things a little extra heat and burning.
Also there's this great one for crab grass.
I know a lot of people are suffering from this right now.
If you actually open this up and smell it its delicious.
Its cumin, its cinnamon, its corn flour.
All you have to do it wet down you weeds and then apply this powder and the sun will take
care of the rest by smothering it by basically breaking that little polymer coating that's
on the weed.
So it closely dehydrates and disappears.
Another thing I want to talk about with weeding is making sure that you're comfortable in
your garden.
First thing you can do is get a great pair of gloves.
These mud gloves are one my favorite products because it has this coating that keeps you
water proof, but also if we're dealing with something southis that has those nasty little
prickers in it.
Its going to protect my hand to make sure that I'm not discouraged from picking more
of them.
Another thing you can do for you comfort is a kneeler.
Its just a great way to give that extra padding in the knees that can keep out in your garden
just a little bit longer.
My favorite weeding tool is this, they call it a Cape Cod weeder.
The angling on this weeder, the sharp, (as you can see this is a well seasoned one that
I'm using everyday) can get right under that root.
It has a great prying mechanism to get under a taproot, especially ones that are stubbornly
in the ground.
And something like Henbit just whisks it away.
If not someone who so much want to get on the ground, most of the tools that you are
looking at here are available in a longer stick option for you.
So go ahead to your garden center and I bet they have something that you wouldn't have
to bend over with.
One of those that's my favorite is called the Isolating Hoe.
Some of my other gardener know it by the name Hula Hoe and love it because its got two razor
sharp edges with one motion you could be doing double the work.
Its great for granite pads if you have those or again for some of our shallow rooters.
Again my name is Sweet Pea Hoover its been great to talk to you about some of my favorite
tools and ways to get rid of weeds naturally.
Busy hands are happy hands so get on out there!