In Which We Talk About Weeding

OK, I really should be working on plaster in the front parlour, or painting, or any of a number of other house tasks I've been planning for my summer break. But instead I've been pulling out Bermuda grass pretty much every free moment.

I got five bucketloads from the California natives garden:

A couple of weeks ago Noel and I chopped down the dessicated remains of the cobweb thistle, to the delight of one of the neighbors who has hated it since I planted it this spring. With that gone, I was able to weed around it without risking life and limb, and it seemed like a good time for clearing out the dead poppies, the bushels of weeds, and so on, too. Lots of magnolia leaves, too, which are terrible for blocking moisture from the soil.

One good friend in the war on weeds is ground cover. The wooly thyme and elfin thyme have really taken the lead in that department.

The huge growth is wooly thyme; elfin thyme is a small island in the back of the photo. So far, I've seen the wooly thyme drown out several attempts by the Bermuda grass to make inroads into my brick pathway. Go, thyme, go! And it smells really nice when you walk on it, too.

And now a photo of the little brown birdies helping me out by eating weed seeds in the back garden:

They actually seem to prefer the weed seeds to the bird feeder.

Technorati Tags: bermuda grass, birds, gardening, weeds

posted by ayse on 08/26/06