Well, we've covered the cursed nutgrass pretty well and started hitting on others, so here's more space to go at um! I also had purslane in the first bed that nutgrass first showed up in, Carolyn. I know it’s meant to be good to eat, but, if I were going to host eatables, I'd rather have something tastier. Whatever you do, C, Don't let it reseed! Each little yellow bloom spot propels gabillions of seed. I hand weeded a bed for 5 yrs to get rid of it. And now, in a different bed, I am plagued with bindweed. The really bad news on that is - it's also underground attached, like nutgrass. Sheets of newspaper under the mulch keeps new sprouts down, until they squeeze up around the good-plants stalks. <8-0 But it def seems easier to manage than knotweed - but still as backbreaking.
A lot of folks have told me they think their first nutgrass came in with bulk purchased soil - when the green was dormant in winter. Mine came with some shared monkey grass, when I didn't know how to recognize it. Curbside bag collecting for mulch or composting, purchased bulk mulch and/or soil, purchased and gift plants are often the sources of many new weed invasions. Then, my long border is subject to bird droppings from the highwires, which has brought me many a new weed-seed intro!

In our area nursery annuals and perennials frequently come with liverworts, green scaly growths on the surface of the soil that can multiply in a bed. Yuck! One of our beds is infested with this stuff. In the spring I use a trowel to scoop up and discard all that I can find. Then I get busy with other things and forget to keep after it - until the following spring when I make another stab at eradicating it.

Yuck.....That sounds terrible Susan....Maggie I know how you feel...I am lucky i do not have big problems with weeds...and truly lucky to not have received any in all the trades and swaps I take part in.........

Dave, you have recieved enough dirt on plant roots from my garden to have one of every kind of weed here. I'm going to guess they just don't like your shade as much as they do my sun! When I get greenhouse-grown plants, their weeds never make it past the first week of summer out there. And Susan lives in a greenhouse-wet climate that can host the liverworts, which would evaporate in no time around here. All this concluding an observation: Most weeds are just as picky about their culture as the desirable ones!
But I bet nutgrass can survive anywhere!!

My book on northwest weeds doesn't have a listing for "nutgrass." Perhaps it has a different name here. Do you know the botanical name of this weed?

I have checked my shelves, without finding it in any of the books. Thought I had seen it in something there, but must have been elsewhere. Gail.... your turn, have a go or someone go surfing for us, please.

Maggie, no luck here either but here's your laugh. My OLD Organic Encyclopedia says "is very difficult to eradicate once it gets beyond the hand-picking stage (Duh!)...it is severely discouraged by growing a heavy cover of cowpeas on the plot for one or more summers...in early summer, apply a large amount of compost and allow to become heavily matted to shade the soil. The vines should be plowed or dug into the soil in October." Seems that verifies your theory on David's shade not bringing on the weed growth. Now, what the heck is cowpeas?!?

Cowpeas = black eye peas.

My father-in-law from Montana, got the strangest look on his face when I set a bowl of BEP on the table. He asked what they were, and said they used to grow and feed them to the cows.

Those wacky Northerners! Did you know they also make dressing out of plain old white bread?!?!?

Yes, Carolyn and they us Oyster's in their dressing too. Yuck oh !!!!!!!!Neal Sperry always called it Nutsedge (SP)???????Instead of Nut Grass.

Thank you Carolyn! You taught me something new today!

I really hate to bring the nut grass issue back up, but....

The half of the rose bed that I weeded, remember I dug it up and basically sifted through the dirt getting everything I could find....well, there are may be 6 nutgrass shoots showing.

The half that I paid someone to do, and specifically told them to dig it up and sift through, etc., well....she must have just pulled off the tops so that it looks weeded.

Yesterday, I finally got most of the plants in the ground that I had been acquiring the past 3 weeks and couldn't plant because of the wind. I decided that with the excellent drainage, that the rose bed would be a good place for the lavenders and rosemary. I ended up having to dig a 3 or 4' radius around each plant I put in because it was very, very obvious that no one had dug out the nut grass bulbs, roots, runners. So something that should have taken a matter of minutes, ended up taking 2 hours!

Here's the good news. My son said that for $20 a week, he would finish digging out the nut grass and then he would maintain daily vigilance on nut grass control in the rose bed and one other bed. He said that he would do the work the way I wanted it, so why not pay him instead of someone who doesn't follow instructions? The kid got the job!

What a great solution! He'll be employed ALL summer at that! I can just see Her Ladyship Alex taking that on over here ... right David?!?! If yours is sandy soil Carolyn, it will be a much easier job than removing it from the clay I am stricken with.
I think the rosemary and lavender is an excellent choice for edging. Did you get a variety of lavenders Caroline? The ones I put in our driveway strip have loved the sight, but they could do with more sun. Tree trimming will help, right Dave?

We have black clay, but not in the rose bed. I think its all hauled in dirt. Its loose and seems good, although I think I've mentioned the complete absence of earthworms.

Believe me, Maggie, no one was more surprised than I about my son jumping into this nut grass monitor thing. He's thinking about $80 a month and how much he will have if he doesn't blow it shopping online.

I got 2 types of lavendar, an artemesia, and an upright rosemary. They should do well there. Hope so. Full sun. Good drainage. I usually forget to water there. Sounds perfect. I only watered the roses 3 or 4 times last summer and they did beautifully. Don't ask me what kind they are, because I am clueless. They came with the house, but fortunately, I really like them.

Her ladyship Alex??? Yea, right she will pull weeds......NOT........I think it is great your son volunteered Carolyn....I hope he is not seeing the green backs and missing the green stems of nut grass??
Speaking of trimming trees and shrubs?? Maggie the one dead Nandina shrub from the back yard is gone now....Thanks to your visit the other day...It made me do some strong yard work and gee, it was such a cool time of year to do, such labor involved work!!!!

OK, I'm not going to use the N word again. Suffice it to say that I dug a small amount of "it" out during my project today. The previous owner edged the pitiful little trees we have with bricks. Well, today while mowing, I hit the blasted bricks with the mower for the last time!

My project for the day became removing the bricks from around the trees. I removed them from 2 trees. Then it took me 4-1/2 hrs. to double the size of the so-called bed around only one of the trees, weed it of regular ol' weeds and the dreaded bermuda grass.

In looking at the photo, its almost impossible for me to believe that it took so long.

Carolyn, What is your little tree? I'm sure it will love its expanded bed! (& I can easily believe it took 4-1/2 hrs to do the job.)

Thanx Susan. The tree is a red oak. It doesn't look too healthy. I believe red oaks are among the oaks hit with oak wilt around here. I plan to extend that bed all the way to the curb, which you can see in the photo. Its quite a slope and very weedy. I suppose since the soil is clay, the water just runs down to the drive, rather than soaking in. Anyway, I think I'll put shrubs and ground cover in that area.

If you are going to prep the bed over summer, tilling and your good ol manure compost should fix the run off problem and make it good for a fall planting. That plus adding sand and gypsum sure made our native clay useable. Two good doses of compost a year, a dose of gypsum every 2-3 yrs and good mulching keeps it like coffee grounds.
It was my turn today ... slogging around in the garden, getting it tidied up. Strange how moving dirt around in the garden is much more hard labor than cleaning up dirt in the house, yet so much more enjoyable, yes? Would you have rather cleaned house than do your oak beds, Caroline? (no answer needed, really! ;-)

Gee Maggie, I don't have that problem...I have that stuff called.......SAND.........It is so wonderful......It just take a little bit more WATER............

I watch the gardening programs on TV and they dig out this enormous hole in lovely crumbly dark loam to plant a shrub. I look at the pot size that it came in and think "can I hammer out a hole big enough to squeeze that in", usually I can't and end up reducing the rootball to fit the hole. They say over here that you should spend as much money on preparing the planting hole as you do on the plant, perhaps they mean that I should hire pneumatic pick to dig out my planting holes.

Terry, are you gardening in rock? At a home I had in the city, we lived on top of a hill (I just realized I must have this thing about living on top of a hill) where we had a layer of clay on top of limestone. Planting a tree was a royal pain and my husband did have to use a power auger to dig the hole. I simply built raised beds for my garden rather than try to break up the clay and rock.

At my former farm, I had 36" of sand on top of clay. I spent years trying to re-build the topsoil, but only in the yard was I able to get any soil of a darker color. I was bemoaning the lack of topsoil to one of my neighbors who had farmed the area for 65 years, and he said that he had watched all the topsoil from my farm blow away in one day during the 1930's. Over here, the 1930's are referred to as the "Dirty 30's" due to drought and winds.

I know how you feel Terry...When I did a hole in my yard(flower beds) I have to fight the roots from all the trees and shrubs I have planted....Sometimes I wish I could shrink the size of the root ball of the plant I am planting so it would fit in my tiny hole I have finally dug....You know from a 1-gallon size plant to a 2"size pot??

Yes that's just like me David, I actually look to see if any are in smaller pots when I'm buying. Clems are particularly bad, they always seem to grow them in really deep pots and all the main roots seem to form aroung the bottom. I usually end up squashing them, because I can never get the hole deep enough and the books recommend deep planting.

Just as I was about to fall asleep that night after posting about Carolyn's blue flowers, it came to me,,, CHICKORY! So funny how the
brain does that.
Save us some seed C !
Thanks for that great closeup pic Susan.

I am really curious about the 'Rosebay Willow Herb' Terry. Would love to see pic, if possible. Interesting names - rose, bay, willow,
herb. Wonder if they couldn't decide exactly what it was related to and were just trying to cover as wide a base as possible ;-)

Ahaaa, so the one with loose SANDY, easy digging soil, has to fight roots instead of rocks. There is some justice after all, heehee.

When I see those gardening shows Terry, where everything falls into place with perfection, it reminds me of the cooking shows, where
underchefs have done all the shopping, chopping, and sorting, and then they will clean up afterwards. It all looks so easy when films
leave out the detailed prep work. Gardening, cooking and carpentry demo shows are fantasies of life's realities!

The discussions above make me think of the yin and yang of all the diff types of soil we all struggle with. Dave has wonderful
woodlanders, who's roots hinder understory planting. Sand is easy digging/but needs extra feeding/humus and water. Clay needs
loosening, but retains water and is often rich in nutrients needing to be unlocked with compost microbes. Rocks are hard to garden with,
but usually indicate good mineral content. I have heard that the Seattle area is a gardener's fantasy come true: deep rich sandy loam, rich
in volcanic deposits and God's irrigation. Tell us its NOT true Susan. Lie if needed.

Maggie don't forget that any fantasy usually has a dark side and in Seattle I have heard it is 6"-12" long Slugs.........

Maggie, I'm glad someone else admitted they watch those fantasy shows. I love the guy who comes to your house and makes dinner with a chef in hand. Wonder what he could make out of the things in my cupboard!?!? He'd probably laugh and walk out.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I hate the little slugs, I sure don't want to deal with masses of slime on my patio! Let's play tourist in Seattle and come back to our clay!

Maggie, Sonny actually picked out a pond today! I was going for the smaller and he said the bigger one would look better! Yippie! Of course, we didn't have enough projects going on so we went to The Depot for a new gate and came home with pavestone and fence stuff. No room for the pond...but we have a pump because I bought one last week for my indoor fountain and it's too big. But we didn't figure it until it was under the water and plugged in so now we just can't take it back, right? Teee, heee, I was clever and didn't know it! I love it when I do stuff that works out to be an advantage -- and don't even realize when I'm doing it.

"the guy who comes to your house and makes dinner with a chef" ... I've missed that one. Must come on at the same time as the bowling marathons.

Surely Susan's slugs can't be any larger than those on Terry's site!!!

Last summer, I bought a pump to replace the broken one in the little wall fountain. It was the smallest one they had, so decided it would be the right one. Wrong. Aren't WE clever! But please, Gail go back and get that pond - one of us has to take the plunge. David has two beauties (ponds) in his garden that he will let you come visit, as soon as you have me over.

For the record, the largest mine have ever been is 7 inches at full stretch, yes I am talking slugs, and in case you are wondering, the black ones are the largest. So when it comes to the slime guys it seems things are not bigger in Texas.....If any 12 inch ones turn up around here, I shall seriously have to consider re-locating, the ones I have now make me shudder when they turn up unexpected, like under a pot, just where you place your hand to lift it.

Gail, Much obliged for the shopping spree at The Depot. I have lots of stock in that company, and with the market the way it is right now....please.....spend as much as you want at Home Depot!!!

Sorry you missed the pond meeting the other day. It was really interesting. They had some beautifully landscaped and designed ponds. Great for getting ideas.

However, I'd really rather not talk about water today. Last night, my son left the water running in his bathroom sink and flooded the kitchen and laundry room below. No kidding....water running out of the light fixtures, at least an inch deep on the floors. A real mess. Hours later when I finally got everything cleaned up, I noticed that the master control panel for the house intercom was spazing. I pulled it out of the wall and realized that water had been running down the inside of that wall. This was about 2:00 a.m. So, since I didn't know how to disconnect it, I stayed up the rest of the night with fire extinquisher at hand in case the electronics went up in flames! You might ask why I didn't wake my husband to disconnect it so I could get some sleep? Well, let's just say, he was not exactly Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected about the incident!

Carolyn, wish we had pixes of your evening's events. I love the home happenings. We had one yesterday too. A gate that should have taken an hour took us 3 just to get it hung. But it's not done because we cut one of the boards just right so now we're short one board.

So we'll be adding to your stock today, again. Also, buying tile this week from them. Then more tile for entry and kitchen areas. Then carpet. You should be rich by December!

Is his the same son that you pay top dollar to do your weeding? Sounds like he may be costing you more than Gail is spending at The Depot....
Hope the damage wasn't as bad as it sounds...

Yea, No wonder the kid volunteers for the weeding of beds......I bet Carolyn's Husband wants the kid to Volunteer for the Army,Navy.....any where but living at the house.......

As I reminded my almost 50 year old husband, he hasn't outgrown brain farts either, so why would he expect it of a 13 year old boy?

Ok, now that I've had some sleep, and my humor restored, let me tell you how bizarre this accident really was.

My son was going to clean his commode. He read the instructions on the toilet cleaner, which said to soak the commode brush first. He soaked it in the SINK! With the drain closed, and as we were also busy getting a guest room ready for my nephew's visit, he apparently thought he would let the brush soak, finish helping me with guest room, and then clean his toilet. How the water in the sink got left running is a mystery. Oh well, only real damage is the intercom system and the ceiling of the downstairs laundry room. Trust me on this, I'm the only one who ever sees the laundry room, so that's not too bad. The intercom system will probably be an expensive date to fix.

Oh well. Nephew is here so the kids will be busy with all sorts of stuff. Its a beautiful morning, and I think I'll head outside now and finish planting those plants that the wind has prohibited me from planting until now. Have a nice day everyone!

Hey Carolyn, up half the night nursing a fire extinguisher, qualifies you for a bit of bad temper. Got to laugh, Maggie has been telling me how dry it is in Texas, and there you go with a 12 acre lake, and that's just in your laundry room. Beginning to see why you spend so much time in the swimsuit....and wellies.

Somewhere way up the page Maggie asked me about Rosebay Willowherb (Charmerion augustifolium). It has pinkish purple flowers (Rose), lanceolate leaves (willow), herb I suppose because it is herbaceaous and perennial, the bay bit has me beat. It is a tall growing plant, over 6 feet (1.8m) high in good ground and the flowers are on a long spire. A large expanse of them can cloud the sky with the floating seeds (similar to dandelion) on a day with a gentle breeze.

I am now going to go and boot (being the appropriate word) up my scanner. It is getting old and somewhat temperamental so if a picture appears below it worked and if one doesn't it is most likely in bits on my back lawn.

You had me wanting some until you said seeds like dandelion....never mind!

I want some!!!!
If that would stop me, I'd miss out on poppies, larkspur, and aledo weedo!
My newspaper mulch keeps re-seeders from growing where I don't want them.

Hey, Maggie, it's Barbara. Do you remember me?
I'm having a major problem with volunteer dwarf ruella (Katie, I think). No one has ever mentioned how invasive it can be. Admittedly the flower is lovely, but not EVERYWHERE. Is there any solution short of ripping her out and all her seedlings to prevent further invasion? HELP ANYONE?

Great to have you join us again Barbara! I've never known it to be invasive in others' gardens - weird. I'll ask around. Are they seedlings or coming up from parent-plant roots?

We have had such strange mild weather, that the Cape Plumbago reseeded in my beds - for the first time in more than 10 years of replanting it every year. Maybe that is what happened in your garden with the ruella. I know the tall one is a reseeding pest, as well as underground runner, but I still like having some of it around.

Save me some of those dwarf volunteers - I've been meaning to use some this fall.

Barbara, the seeds of the lovely Katy Ruella are known in my previous garden to "shoot" across the yard to the one bare place I might have had for the season. But they are so easy to dig up (especially early spring) and give the joy to everyone you love. That's been the best solution I have found. Share the love.

You remind me Gail, what a difference its made to keep bennie nemmies in the compost pile, as well as the beds. Remember the pill bug prob I had - when they ate everything including Roland the statue? They must have been eating the dwarf r seedlings back then too, which is why I never had a prb with it. I no longer have any d r because they got shaded out by bigger stuff that covered over them and I miss them. Have found new sunny place to have them again and will look forward to them spreading around this time. Save some for me Barbara!

Thanks for the positive ideas, guys. Maggie, I'm happy to dig up several d.r. for you. I've been wondering what I could offer you that you don't already have. Meanwhile, I'll change my attitude about their prolific habit, Gail. Another question..Are they also referred to as "old fashioned petunia?

Hmmmm...the old fashion petunia that I have had before wasn't as tight on the foliage as Katy and the flowers were more away from the foliage and visible...but as with common names we all use...who knows?

I am new to this board... We just bought a house and we have all of these tiny little blue flowers in the yard. The neighbor said it was Chickory. While not unpleasant, I would rather have a nice green lawn rather than one peppered with little flowers. How do I get rid of them?

What state/region are you in Jennifer?
Are you wanting to tackle it with non-chemical treatments?

I'm in Maryland. I don't mind using chemicals as long as it will be safe for my children to play in the yard and something that won't kill my neighbor's plants. We live in a townhouse.

Sorry I missed getting back to you sooner Jennifer.
They only way to eradicate the current growths without chemicals is to pull them by hand. Or, you could spray them with 20% vinegar in hot weather, but it would mar whatever grass it hits too. After pulling them out, you could use corn gluten (industry byproduct) to deter germination of remaining seeds,, probably requiring reapplication for several seasons.

Another solution is to kill them with a selective herbicide that will kill the weeds but not destroy the grass, such as Weed be Gone. Then, detoxify the earth with any of several amendments such as charcoal. But, you will still have an ongoing battle to prevent seed germination.

Mowing the grass short and often during their bloom season will help reduce seed production along with using a product to deter germination.
Sounds like a long-term task, but persistence is the key.