The Weeds Are Toast!

I was the counselor at camp who loved to teach knife, ax and saw safety, fire building, archery and cooking. That was many years ago but I still enjoy each one and finding new ways to enjoy using them in my every day chores. Yesterday was knives and fire in the garden.

I worked on the yard for 3 hours yesterday. One very thorny bush is now about 1/3 the size. It was shooting past the gutters and roof. The darn thing filled almost 2 lawn bags and nailed me really good twice. The darn thing has 2.5” thorns on some of the older growth. A nice sharp pair of pruners did the job. I had my ax and Japanese saw on stand by but it didn’t come to that.

After having one plant fight back it was time to get my revenge on some unsuspecting weeds. In early spring I had used my sod cutting shovel to edge the yard along the curb and scrape out the weeds growing in the cracks along the curb. The weeds in the curb had not gotten the message they were unwelcome and came back in vengeance. I had the garden hose in one hand and my burner in the other. The neighbors just smiled and stayed away as I lite the burner and lowered it down to the first weed. As I walked along the curb I could see the next weed wither in anticipation of its turn to be brought before the flame… As I contemplated the carbon emissions from the burning propane vs. the potential damage herbicide can do to the water ways and the plants and animals along the way, I charred the weeds along the curb and walkway. I still needed to do more along the curb but I saved that for another day. I think the burning weeds was the most satisfying chore of the day. I love my weed burner. For some reason frying stubborn weeds with a beautiful blue flame; watching them twist, wither and burn is so satisfying. Yes, I’ve remembered my Girl Scout training to always be prepared. I had the hose or a bucket of water in the other hand at all times just in case the flames decided to try to escape my control.

I also tried to burn the wisteria growing at a base of a tree. If it doesn’t work I’ll have to resort to herbicide. It is so close to the tree that any attempts at getting rid of the tree smothering plant could damage or kill the tree.