Apparently I was targeted this week by the global dandelion jihad, and they successfully ran attacks all over my property without my noticing. I’ve been running clear and hold missions for the last hour or so, but I may have to venture into my neighbors yard, because I can tell the dandelion jiahd is being given safe harbor there.
At any rate, is there any way to handle this between the two obvious solutions: digging every damned one of them up or spraying poison all over the damned place? I don’t like either option.
Also, got Tunch’s bird feeder set up. Waiting for the birds to notice it.
Adam Collyer
We always dug them up at our old house. Even if a spray says it’s pet-safe, it still would make me somewhat nervous.
russell
Brother Neutron Bomb Of Bitter Greens!!
Bulworth
Your neighbor’s yard is either with you, or it is with the dandalion terrorists.
gogiggs
There’s a third obvious solution, you know. Just leave them be. They’re flowers, they’re pretty. Why worry about it.
Brien Jackson
Greenwald is pimping the idea that liberals pushing for Wood makes her a less likely pick on Twitter. I swear to God, I’m ready to just give up on everything but baseball at this point.
Patrick Thompson
Dandelion wine!
Svensker
You can spray them with vinegar. The normal white vinegar you buy in the supermarket tends to be fairly weak, so if you can find a solution with a higher acetic acid content, it will work better. But otherwise, just fill a little spray thing with straight vinegar and go out and spray the leaves. It takes a while to work and you may have to repeat, but it will kill the dandelion (and anything else it gets on) eventually.
Steve
You mean those pretty yellow flowers?
Brien Jackson
I’ve honestly never had a massive dandelion problem. Normally just mow them over. Sorry, no idea what to do besides digging them up.
jibeaux
Along the vinegar lines, boiling water poured right over ’em works too.
MikeTheZ
Bored in class, jump to ESPN looking for something to read…and get another Tim Tebow puff piece. Memo to ESPN: GFY.
Ajay
I had and have similar problem but I let lawn mower take care of it. Problem is significantly less now as I reseeded my yard couple of years in a row, making it thicker and far fewer feeds now germinate in the lawn.
Retief
What you have to do is harvest those dandelion greens and take a bushel of them down to the doctor’s office next time you hurt your shoulder. If they won’t take one bushel of dandelion leaves, try two bushels.
licensed to kill time
I use the vinegar option as well. Bonus point: your yard smells like a giant salad.
ETA: Those dandelion jihadis, they blow up so fast nowadays.
John Cole
They’re pretty little flowers when… they are in someone else’s yard. In my yard, they are weeds and they must be brought to order or all hell will break loose.
cat48
Weed and Feed by Scotts is what we use on the front lawn every other yr which is dry fertilizer + weed inhibitor. Dollar weeds take over here otherwise so it is a special Southern blend. Applied with spreader, not spray.
John Cole
I just planted sunflowers, though, so I should have some intentional pretty yellow flowers in a couple months.
JMC in the ATL
I talked a bit last week about how one of my cats, Hemlock, wasn’t faring so well. I ended up putting him to sleep this morning. I’d like to share a little bit about him.
My ex adopted him as a kitten from the Animal Defense League of San Antonio in the fall of 2001, a couple of months before I moved down to Texas the first time. He was a well-travelled cat, living in Texas, Connecticut, Texas (again), Massachusetts, and finally Georgia. He hated being put into his carrier, but he always settled in quickly on long rides, once he realized he wasn’t going to the vet.
Hemlock wasn’t the smartest cat. He was pretty lazy. He was scared of almost everything. He hated being picked up. But he was also a good boy. He liked to lay in the sun. He loved to have his ears and the bridge of his nose lightly rubbed. He wasn’t a complainer or an attention whore. He was fine being by himself, but he loved hanging out with his cat buddy Marlowe. He liked to sleep in between your legs, above the covers, even though he knew he’d get tossed around that way. And he never quite understood why you didn’t want all 16 pounds of him on your ribcage while you slept.
I think that, overall, he was a content cat. He enjoyed play time, especially the “kitty fishing pole” with the feathers on the end and the laser pointer. He hated being brushed, but loved being fed. He didn’t like change *at* *all*, and he really did not like dogs. But as long as he had food and water and he got some attention, that was usually enough for him. I guess he was a Quaker. Moderation in all things. And that’s cool.
I will miss him. He was a good boy and a good friend.
Zifnab
@John Cole: Have you considered opening up diplomatic relations or implementing economic sanctions?
akaoni
@Retief:
WIN
Comrade Mary
Did Tunch really not have a good view of birds in your old place? If he starts chittering, you simply must provide us with video — please?
EDIT: @JMC in the ATL: Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about Hemlock. He sounds like he was a wonderful big old kitty and you obviously spoiled him rotten, as he fully deserved.
Carnacki
Surrender and welcome your new Dandelion Overlords quickly.
licensed to kill time
@JMC in the ATL:
I am so very sorry to hear that. You wrote a lovely tribute to your furry buddy, may he live on in your memory and your heart forever. The pain does lessen, eventually.
And again, what a great name you gave him!
kid bitzer
you must drain the swamp!
Fergus Wooster
John,
Pick ’em all and save the greens. They’re nutritious and quite tasty, either sauteed or braised like collards or mustard greens.
Also, Cream of Dandelion Soup (with bacon, of course) is fantastic.
This way disposing of them is a harvest, and not a chore.
Southern Beale
Hey it’s Earth Day, so I’m gonna suggest a natural method. The idea is to make our lawn a hospitable environment for grass and inhospitable for weeds. Check the pH of your soil and adjust as needed, don’t mow too short, aerate in the fall.
For pointers:
Organic Lawn Care For the Cheap And Lazy
MikeJ
ChuckTodd on Twitter:
Atrios replies:
Omnes Omnibus
@Retief: Now you are going to open up dandelion-chicken arbitrage markets. Is this a direction we want to head?
TracieLynn
@JMC in the ATL:
I’m so sorry. It sounds like he had a good life and was a good friend.
Ella in NM
Only people living in parts of the country so lush that green things grow all by themselves without you spending $100 a month watering them would have the luxury of destroying such eternal gifts from plant heaven.
You must be related to the new folks from “out east” who cut down two decades old 50-foot trees two weeks after moving here because they left little bumps and dropped leaves in their front yard landscaping. Resulting in the entire west side of my house becoming a frigging oven from lack of shade.
Fergus Wooster
@JMC in the ATL:
I’m so sorry to hear. A fantastic tribute you gave him, and you clearly gave him a good life.
Cain
@JMC in the ATL:
I’m sorry to hear of your loss. He sounds like a well rounded kitty.
cain
chopper
why get rid of em? dandelions rule. every part of them is edible, and the greens are about the most nutritious thing you can find.
if you don’t want them to spread, mow em down before they flower.
the greens are tasty in the spring before the flowers open, and in the fall. dip up some 4-or-so year old roots and use em to make tea.
Cat Lady
@MikeJ:
Atrios was born to tweet. That’s f’ing hilarious.
donnah
JMC, I’m sorry that Hemlock has passed. Our pets become so much a part of our lives and whether they are “remarkable” or not, they are important to us. Losing them is losing a little bit of ourselves.
Hemlock sounds like a great kitty, one who was adaptable even though he hated change, who was flexible to fit his people, and also knew how to love and be loved. I’m sorry for you that he is gone.
Donna
Fergus Wooster
Recipe:
about 6 cups dandelion greens, washed and trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock
2 leeks, white/light parts cleaned and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt/pepper to taste
dandelion flower petals for garnish
Use fresh, tender dandelion greens if possible. If using mature plants, blanch in salted boiling water, drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop greens and set aside.
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat, add greens, carrot and leeks and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. (Add cubes of bacon, optional)
Add vegetable stock and simmer for 15 minutes. At medium heat, whisk in milk and cook until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
Puree mixture in blender or food processor in batches, being careful of the hot liquid. Pour all puree back into cooking pot, season with salt, pepper and dijon mustard.
Serve in bowls garnished with flowers.
andy
Eat the greens, indeed. They’re actually pretty good when they are young. The big irony is that dandelions are an introduced species. Go back to your White People roots and have some every day!
Michael
Keeping the government out of your health care, the Conservative way……
http://www.smh.com.au/world/antiabortion-bill-to-block-foetal-test-results-20100421-szqu.html
Ah’m proud to be ‘Murkin, where at least Ah know Ah’m free…….
The Moar You Know
@JMC in the ATL: I remember your last posting. My condolences.
I too am parent of a not-so-bright cat, second one that I’ve ever had in my life. They have their own “special” qualities (a big one being is that they tend to destroy fewer things in the house), and they are the biggest attention whores ever, which is kind of fun.
Putting your cat down is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but you do it to spare them pain – always remember that. You were a good cat parent and that is what matters.
Cain
Speaking of cats, my little tortoise shell cat, Snickers is still causing me trouble with inappropriate peeing. I’m not sure what is going on. I switched to all wet cat food, and started putting water into the food with a little bit of apple cider vinegar. But it seems like every 5-6 days she goes and pees on the carpet. I think I have her down to one spot now.
I’ve been going to the library and reading up on cat behavior books, natural cat remedies etc but so far nothing is working. The vet thinks that she is experience pain and that when she has an incident I should give her pain medicine. She also prescribed some wet cat food that will cause the cat to drink more water. The urine is longer a dark concentrated smell liquid, but a light not so smelly one. I’m wondering if I should do another urine test to test for blood. Maybe we have moved into behavioral problems. Any suggestions would be most appreciated so I can stop snickers from conducting jihad against my carpets. I’m getting tired of checking the carpets every day several times a day. :(
cain
Rosalita
@JMC in the ATL:
I’m so sorry!! I was hoping he’d turn around. Hugs to you.
Rosalita
@John Cole:
Hater
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Make that change and you see exactly how easy it was for Kissinger to convince Nixon to bomb Cambodia and Laos back into the stone age.
It’s starts with dandelions and it ends up geopolitical.
different church-lady
You could just enjoy them.
Jihad of Dandelion
Dandelion Jihad?!! Splitters.
MFA
Boiling water, poured from a kettle. Once and done. No collateral damage to the environment.
chopper
a dandelion patch was good enough for opus the penguin, jerk. you think you’re better than him?
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@JMC in the ATL:
I am so sorry. Thanks for sharing your loss. I think all of us like to share in the joy as well as the sorrow of having these creatures in our lives for an ever so brief period. Losing them is never easy and it never gets easier. I know as humans we’re wired somehow to believe in an afterlife so I always imagine our pets are out there somewhere, either waiting for us or floating along supported by the love we gave them during their lifetime. And the loving memories we carry with us until we’re gone.
different church-lady
@Ella in NM: My favorite is the folks who move to Cape Cod, decide they want a nice green lawn like in the suburbs, discover they can’t grow a law in such sandy soil, and so spend a fortune having tons of earth brought in, thereby taking a place they originally desired due to it’s unique character and turning it into something just like “every other place.”
Tim F.
Buy a goat.
Seriously, dandelions are tougher than any plant you would want to grow in your yard. If you don’t want to rip ’em out or use a chemical like Roundup that selectively kills dichotyledonous plants, then buy something that will chew off everything but the bottom quarter inch of whatever comes out of the ground. You’ll have the greenest yard in town and you can make cheese.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@chopper:
But Opus also racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt buying shit off the teevee.
Plus, Opus was a turrist. Well, originally he was a communist but when that movement died, he moved on.
RSR
corn meal gluten prevents seeds from spouting; use it in the fall and spring
it won’t help with the weeds already established, and should not be used if you’re sowing grass from seed
http://www.hort.iastate.edu/gluten/
http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=544&bhcd2=1271958735
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2006/03-16/dandelion-removal-article.htm
Omnes Omnibus
@different church-lady: Hippie.
Dork
Much, much more importantly: NCAA decided to use sanity and common sense and expand the tourney only to 68 teams, insteada 96. Four play-in games for me to ignore insteada 1. So nuthin’s changed.
dmsilev
Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
dms
fidelio
Now that they’re blooming, it’s a little late for a mess of dandelion greens, but picking the flowers for dandelion wine will ensure that there aren’t more next year. If you don’t want the trouble of making dandelion wine, find someone who does, and invite them to come over and pick every last little blossom, and then see if your neighbors would mind contributing to the project.
You can keep on harvesting as long as they produce blooms.
jibeaux
According to the organic lawn care link someone posted, grass likes a pH of 6.5 and dandelions like 7.5, so you can have the ag extension test the soil and lower the pH if necessary.
Mike
There’s an organic-ish cornmeal-based herbicide I’ve seen advertised and at my smaller independent hardware stores and nurseries.
I have no idea if it’s any good.
freelancer
Who wants to pay taxes on a goat?!
Plus, it’s not like you can trade it in to your doctor when the bill comes. Then you’re stuck with a commodity that isn’t liquid in any way, shape, or form, and the only one answering the Craigslist ad is Mickey Kaus. Yikes.
frankdawg
Dandelions are smart buggers – if you mow them the flowers start appearing on very short stems. I make daily passes to pluck every head I find & then pull the roots a couple of times a month.
My first ever cat, Tomtegubbe, made it 18 years and it was heartbreaking to put her down. She was a mischievous imp well named. My current rescue, Edward Wellington Mouseripper the third, is just about to turn 18 and appears in great health but it is worrisome to know what will happen all too soon. Remember the fun stuff & dive in again soon. The next one won’t replace the last one but they help you mend.
Rosalita
@freelancer:
But the goat could mean less property taxes! Makes your property a ‘farm’ in some places. I knew a very wealthy women in NJ who had goats roaming her yard for that very reason.
Fitzwili
Boo – I am disapointed that you have not war blogged the only clear solution- burn them to the ground !
Seriously you can go to gardenersedge.com and buy a little flame thrower for weeds.
NobodySpecial
I am now picturing a line of chickens on a conveyer belt.
COLE, HE’S EATING YUR MONIEZ!
Rosalita
“Edward Wellington Mouseripper”
love that…
RSR
also, Mike McGrath’s You Bet Your Garden is a great resource for natural and organic advice and solutions: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/index.html
Bill E Pilgrim
@MikeJ: @ Chuck Todd: Though I may continually be surprised by having my Villager common wisdom proven wrong, I will never stop believing it. For that is the Beltway pledge.
To keep your illusions when all around are losing theirs… etc etc.
I picture them taking the pledge every time they meet, like Elks clubs.
mslarry
@JMC in the ATL: so sorry for your loss.
Dave C
I would suggest just tolerating the presence of dandelions, but I guess that makes me the Neville Chamberlain of landscaping or something.
Bill Arnold
Nitpicking, Roundup is an equal-opportunity herbicide, useful (along with a month or two) for preparing a garden in what is currently lawn.
(More that I wanted to know about herbicides on wikipedia. Roundup is a “EPSPS inhibitor”. 2,4-D does dicots.)
Persia
@Patrick Thompson: This would be my suggestion. That shit is potent.
bemused
Trying to eradicate dandelions is a lifetime exercise in futility. Who needs the stress? Some areas of our lawn are converting over to moss & father-in-law was horrified. We just said we like the lovely moss & there’s much less to mow. We live in the country with a large lawn so we have a “so what” attitude about it. We don’t care as long as it’s green & looks like a lawn from the highway which it does except for the yellow spots that come from dog pee but those eventually disappear too. Plant flower beds & people pay more attention to those than a less than perfect lawn.
Annie
@MikeTheZ:
I hope it’s not my class………..:)
PS. Maybe this is why I don’t allow students to have open laptops in class…….or cell phones…
chrismealy
I really enjoy using my hori-hori to murder dandelions. It’s a great tool. It’s like the gardener’s assassin knife:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007WFG2I
MikeJ
@NobodySpecial:
Great. Now I have “Powerhouse” stuck in my head.
steve
link
although I’m sure retards like mcmegan and erickson would say any change would take away americans’ freedom to be dropped from coverage. I was a libertarian/conservative too, but at one point I stopped being a 17 year old idiot and took a look at the reality of the world we live in.
freelancer
OT – You know who else censored media and trends that cast Nazis in a ridiculous light…
tigris
I recommend getting a marmot. Mine eats the dandelions religiously, at least until the cilantro comes in.
Omnes Omnibus
@freelancer: You could trade the goat for several chickens (imagine how many chickens Kaus would give for one goat), then you could exchange the chickens for a variety of services. Plus Tunch and the goat could have staring contests.
Ella in New Mexico
@JMC in the ATL:
Even though I knew what was coming, I ignored my first instinct to not read your post about Hemlock, to spare myself the vicarious pain.
So glad I did read it, though, because it reinforced for me that the little moments we have with these wonderful creatures are truly gifts from God, meant to help us grasp at least some of the meaning of existence when we allow them into our hearts.
Take care.
steve
well switch to Photograph. Much better. :-)
Chat Noir
@JMC in the ATL: I’m so sorry for your loss. Hemlock is now on his way to kitty heaven and his soul will only know happiness from here on out. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I have three cats and I cherish every day with them. I’m sure you did the same with Hemlock.
beltane
@Cain: Could it be a bladder infection?
Julia Grey
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
Yeah, I was going to recommend a secret Christmas bombing, myself.
Cat Lady
Who could’ve predicted that the DFHs were right about death panels?
MikeJ
@steve: I couldn’t possibly be better. It was never used in a Chuck Jones cartoon.
geg6
@Ajay:
This.
This is the only solution I’ve ever seen work, including digging them up or spraying them with poison. Re-seed the lawn with a thick growing grass seed and it crowds the dandelions out.
Otherwise, mow ’em over, Cole. My John tilts at the dandelion windmills continuously but re-seeding on a 2 acre piece of property simply isn’t feasible.
trollhattan
Yarg, I hate ’em and their dandelion imitators (of which there seems to be several). I’m in the dig & pull school but it requires a proper (i.e., not of wimpy bendy metal) tool and soft ground. Also too, you have to get out the whole root or it comes back fat and pissed (i.e., Tunchlike).
Kinda, sorta edible before flowering but not in the least afterwards, and since you have zero knowledge of what’s been sprayed or applied to the yard before you moved in. I’d pass.
beltane
@steve: But if it is McMegan’s breasts that are targeted by cancer, she will devote countless pixels to whining about insurance company bureaucracy. To be a glibertarian is to be completely lacking in objectivity.
2liberal
about the dandelions – why don’t you ask ben rothlesberger (spelling!) to stop by and get rid of them for you? he has some non-football time on his hands.
geg6
@MikeJ:
Tee hee. WIN for Atrios there.
BOILING WATER works best!!!
Seriously, I dont know if JC reads comments down this far, but, someone mentioned it above. Boiling water, take pot from stove straight to outside and pour over dandelions. it works very very well and is child/pet safe. Grasses tend not to die, unless they are softer breeds, like sas. standards like kent.blue grass won’t be harmed though — and either way, the grass comes right back where the weeds wont unless they are re-seeded.
so, boiling water for your yard,
petro for your neighbors yard.
Paul in KY
I signed surrender papers years ago with The Dandilion Assembly ™ and Moledor. It’s much easier that way.
SIA
John, yet safflower seed in the feeder. Squirrels don’t much care for it so they don’t hog all the food. Also thistle or niger seed attracts the beautiful American goldfinch.
Angel and Juliet LOVE watching the birds splash around in the bird bath too. Fortunately the screen keeps them away from the birds.
Bill E Pilgrim
Great, first they think animals are legal tender, now they think they’re illegal substances.
I think we need to explain the whole animal concept to right wingers, they don’t quite seem to be grasping it.
LuciaMia
Or stories I read, ’bout folks suffering from asthma or severe allergies were advised to move out to the desert. Course this was back in the late 19th, early 20th c (or as Sue Lowden would call it, “olden times.” Problem is, eventually people brought with them all the plants that were causing the problems to begin with. And whopping big water bills to keep them alive.
mr. whipple
That’s our route. Some might complain it’s poison. I don’t care.
mai naem
@Cain: I think they go pee back in the same place once they’ve started. It could be a urine infection but I would think that would be more often and different spots. All I know is that I would not want to deal with cat urine on carpet. It worse than dog urine.
So, John you’ve started Tunch on an all bird high protein diet?
Paul in KY
@JMC in the ATL: My condolences. Hemlock was a pretty cool cat. Hopefully, you can get another little Hemlock once you’ve passed the mourning period.
SIA
@SIA: Read “TRY” safflower seed, not “yet” safflower seed! Posting on blackberry above my pay grade.
licensed to kill time
I’m sitting here looking out my window at the neighbor cat, who had wrapped himself around the porch railing and is desperately trying to catch his own tail. He keeps hanging over the rail and almost falling off as hangs his tail through the railings to swipe at it yet again. He looks like a kitteh doughnut with a rail filling. He just looked up at me with a ” WHUT? I iz BUSY here!” expression.
Cats are very good at amusing themselves. He’s making me laugh, too.
nishna
Having massacred thousands in my youth, I now find those yellow things that carpeted our yard are actually good for eating.
Dandelion Jelly:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/urban-forager-dandelion-wine-no-jelly/
jayjaybear
2liberal –
The dandelions don’t have breasts and are currently well past their prime in dandelion terms. Big Ben will have no interest in them whatsoever.
SIA
@JMC in the ATL: My sincere condolences. He sounds like a lovely fellow. He was lucky to be found by you.
Linda Featheringill
@JMC in the ATL: Goodby Hemlock.
Enjoy your afterlife, whatever it is.
And you, my good man, will have your love for Hemlock to cling to when that empty spot gets too painful. Sounds like he had a pretty good life.
Kapapa
Eat them they are 100% editable !
Paris
I would water board the ones in your yard – someone previously mentioned boiling water – that seems extremely cruel. For the neighbors, you will need unmanned predator drones.
Sophist
Daisy-cutters work on other types of flowers, right? You should try one of those.
Paul in KY
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: All politics/wars start out as local, as you pointed out.
Bill E Pilgrim
Okay me am definitely in this place now.
Dave Fud
This, a weed hound, is absolutely the best weeding product I used as a kid. It makes short work of the root and the dandelion (and whatever other deep root weeds as well). I wouldn’t bother trying to control dandelions without one of these. Plus, no chemicals, no crawling around, no bending over. A lifesaver.
Sentient Puddle
Reid just filed a cloture motion to begin debate on the financial reform bill. That means the vote to begin debate comes Monday afternoon.
(God, Senate procedure is so fucked up)
twiffer
dandelion wine. there’s your solution.
Alan Fahnestock
get a stand-up dandelion puller, take walks in the yard with lily, talking on the phone, whatever (I smoke, so got a built-in reason to wander around), and pull a few every day. once you get the knack, the thing will do a fair job of pulling the root. you’ll never get rid of all of them, short of the botanical answer to the neutron bomb, but you can keep them more or less in check. and you can probably get the neighbor busted if he’s clearly not even trying: public nuisance or something. or get him a puller, too, and go halvesies on a rack of good beer.
MikeTheZ
Moving from the strange world of politics to the strange world of sports, rumors are flying through twitter that Roethlisberger has been traded to the Raiders.
trollhattan
Speaking of digging holes, how does “Drill here, drill now” rank in the zeitgeist at present?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23rig.html?hp
schrodinger's cat
@mai naem: Catkins diet?
db
@Tim F.:
And when the goat is done, and you got your cheese, you can trade the thing in for a heart transplant.
Pangloss
@trollhattan: The satarists over at Landover Baptist Church are way ahead on this one…
jayackroyd
I have always been an advocate of rototilling your lawn in your first autumn in a new place, and seeing what you get in the spring. I once asked Marcy Wheeler, in what was a reasonable context (growing garlic or mowing very infrequently or something) why she didn’t do that. Her response was succinct:
“Dandelions. My neighbors would consider that a hanging offense.”
stuckinred
Want some kudzu? It’ll cover anything!
Litlebritdifrnt
Mow em down every two weeks. When they are close to the ground they look like grass anyway. I know you are a tad OCD about stuff like this John but look at it this way (it is earth day after all), during the winter when pretty much nothing else will bloom, dandilions will, in some of the harshest conditions and (this is the important bit) it is a vital food supply for honey bees who wake up during warmer days in the late winter/early spring. Our local extension agent “Dr. Tom” begs people to leave dandilions alone during the winter to ensure a steady supply of food for the bees when they need it the most. This is not about you John and having things looking “just so” it is about the bees. Think on it that way.
PS) give the birdies a few days before they discover the feeder, they tend to watch for a while before they will venture to a new one. The chickadees will probably be the first visitors cause they tend not to give a monkey turd about a damn thing.
SIA
@ Cain, get WereBear’s on line book or go to her website. Some great info.
We had a similar problem with our big cat angel. We replaced his covered litter box with a big tub that fits him better and it looks like that solved the problem.
Re the odor, I have heard not to use white vinegar as it makes it worse.
Website earthclinic.com has some good info like the acv you’re already using.
Kristine
Corn Gluten Meal acts as an herbicide. I have used it in the backyard, where my pups spend their time. Drawbacks? You have to use a lot of the stuff, and it isn’t cheap. Also too, you need to hit the weeds prior to germination because that’s the stage the meal inhibits. So if you start putting it down now, you’ll get the later emergers, but you won’t get the stuff that’s already there. Honestly, it takes a year or two of applications before it hits you that, hey, I don’t see many, if any, dandelions. But I think it’s worth it because I feel better about using a product that my dog can eat out of the spreader–which King has–with no ill effects. It’s used as a filler in some dog foods.
trollhattan
@Pangloss:
You’re not kidding! They changed the phazers from “stun” to “vaporize.”
David in NY
@John Cole:
Did anyone tell John the key is to get the as many of the flowers out as he can before they go to seed? Otherwise, he’s facing millions more jihadists.
JOHNNNN! Pay attention.
EDIT: and this was a joke, right?
“grass … crowds the dandelions out” Unpossible.
Catsy
@dmsilev:
Fixed.
WRT dandelions: we don’t bother. We think they look pretty, and have better things to do with our time than expend vast amounts of money and/or effort manicuring our lawn in order to live up to our neighbors’ aesthetic standards. We mow it now and then to keep vermin away, but that’s it.
We have very nosy, passive-aggressive neighbors who have come this close to being told to fuck off and having a door slammed in their face. Their priorities are not ours, and they have a hard time getting that through their heads.
geg6
@MikeTheZ:
Not seeing any such news on any of the local news sites. All they are saying is the Steelers are definitely shopping him around.
I think I’ll put Mark Madden’s show on my office radio. He usually has very good sources, obnoxious pig that he is.
scav
What is this, pick on the chicken week? Evo Morales the president of Boliva “said chicken producers injected fowl with female hormones and insisted that ‘when men eat those chickens they experience deviances in being men’.” What deviances, you ask. Baldness and Homosexuality.
Svensker
@JMC in the ATL:
So sorry. It just hurts.
Teemu
Pulling the roots out is a bit easier with this weed puller. Here’s a video of it in action.
Mark S.
Shorter Mark Levin:
yoodow
John,
Amazon has a lot of different weed burners:
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=weed+burners&tag=googhydr-20&index
I use mine mostly on the driveway.
MazeDancer
@JMC in the ATL:
Gorgeous, moving, wonderful tribute to your boy, Hemlock. Felt like I knew him. And was lucky to do so.
May your necessary grief be not one second longer than it needs be. And your smiling memories be there to bring you happiness always.
Thanks for painting a picture of him so clearly for us all.
dj spellchecka
timothy egan at the nyt goes after nike for keeping big ben on their roster..
Nike, the shoe-maker to the world, the biggest brand in the endorsement game, is standing by Roethlisberger — at least for the moment — just as they continue to back Tiger Woods after his serial infidelities.
The company did not return my phone calls for comment, but in an e-mail earlier they said, “Ben continues to be part of the Nike roster of athletes.”
Really? Ben Roethlisberger, a man most parents would not let near their daughter, let alone their community center, is a fit representative for one of the premier American corporations.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/nikes-women-problem/?th&emc=th
Jennifer
JC – there is a corn-based pre-emergent you can get from Gardens Alive. Works great, but you don’t want to use it anywhere where you’ve seeded. It stops plants from developing feeder roots after they germinate, I think. In any case, it’s 100% people and pet safe, as well as non-polluting in runoff.
Of course this won’t help with the weeds you’ve already got, but spread this stuff around next year and it will stop any new ones before they get started.
mr. whipple
Call any vegetable:
“We’ve been talking about Nevada’s Sue Lowden and her advocacy of bartering medical care for foodstuffs. But it turns out that a week ago another Republican in Tennessee was proposing bartering for medical treatment (in this case with vegetables rather than chickens) as a possible alternative to conventional health insurance.”
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/04/lowden_a_johnny_come_lately.php?ref=fpblg
dj spellchecka
for mark levin: According to NASA GISS, April 2009–March 2010 was the hottest 12-month period on record. Quietly we just experienced the hottest year in thousands of years.
Svensker
@scav:
Giant agribusiness’s fucked up processes cause teh Gay? What will the wingtards do?
Eat elitist organic chicken and save traditional marriage!
Paul in KY
@MikeTheZ: It’s a perfect fit. Ben & Al can go clubbing together.
Jennifer
Also, too: the corn stuff is a slow release fertilizer as well. You can check it out here.
There may be other manufacturers who make the stuff cheaper; this is just the one I know about because I’ve tried it.
flukebucket
Looks like Dennis G is bringing about change
Paul in KY
@Catsy: I had one of those & I told him & her that as long as the grass (i.e. whatever is on the lawn) was green, then I wasn’t worrying about it. When it is purple or blue or orange, then I’ll start worrying about it.
jeffreyw
I know a lot of bald men, but I’m not bald myself. Not that there is anything wrong with being bald, mind you.
CynDee
John, don’t spray your yard or your neighbors. My neighbor, to do me a favor — help the little gal; she’s a single mom — sprayed my dandelions without asking.
My dog was always out grazing in the greens in the yard. He was only 7 years old and in great health, but quickly got cancer and died miserably. My little boy and I were devastated. The old fool had the best of intentions, but I’m certain it was that spray that killed our doggie, and God knows what it did to my son and his friends who were always playing in the grass.
stuckinred
@mr. whipple:
and the chances are good
that a vegetable will respond to you
flukebucket
McCain is flipping and flopping again
I love watching Hayworth make him dance.
WereBear
@JMC in the ATL: Awww. A fine boy and a good friend. My sympathies to you & the better half.
People’s rib cages were meant to be compressed by love!
mr. whipple
@stuckinred:
Hee hee.
Mark S.
@flukebucket:
“Intentionally causing accidents on the freeway”? What the hell is Walnuts talking about?
People who are going to be racially profiled at least can rest assured that Gramps is very sorry, but he’s in a tough primary, ya know.
WereBear
@Cain: We’ve moved into complicated areas that can’t be covered in a comments section.
Click on my name to get to my blog, and use the search function for some ideas. You can also email me from there, I’d be glad to help.
MikeJ
Will cops in Arizona be detaining people who look like they were born in Panama?
Randy P
@Mark S.: I’m guessing some paranoid fantasy where they crash into rich Americans to get big insurance payouts.
Because everybody knows the first thing that illegal immigrants want to do when they cross the border is cause an incident and talk to the police.
Edit: Oh, and on the sort of organic-gardening subject of this thread… we have a constant struggle with ants in our kitchen, and I squish them when I find them crossing the table or otherwise in our food areas. But a few days ago we noticed they had one of those work lines going on the window sill where we keep our African violets. I resisted the squish impulse long enough to watch for a few seconds, and realized they were carrying little white things away from the violets.
I suspect they were taking aphids (somewhere I’ve heard there are species of ants that keep aphids as tiny farm animals) and I say more power to them. At least I couldn’t think of anything little and white that belonged in those pots. If that’s what they were doing it was pretty cool.
matoko_chan
I think you need a new thread for the Frumming of Dr. Manzi.
Some jewels here.
David in NY
I am dubious about the pre-emergents. Expensive, and I haven’t found very effective.
rdldot
@Litlebritdifrnt: I’m with you on the dandelions, but it’s the chickadee that makes me reply.
My favorite bird – they are little and fearless anyway.
twiffer
@mr. whipple: chicken? vegetables? hmmm…why not just make chicken soup and skip the doctor altogther?
my god! that’s their plan, isn’t it?
kay
@Mark S.:
This is what he (supposedly) meant:
“We’ve had numerous officers that have been killed by illegal immigrants in Arizona,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Monday at a Capitol Hill news conference. “And that shouldn’t happen one time.” Babeu said the violence in Arizona has reached “epidemic proportions” and must be stopped. “In just one patrol area, we’ve had 64 pursuits — failure to yield for an officer — in one month,” Babeu said. “That’s out of control.”
McCain is most likely covering his ass, but I don’t know what the sheriff means. 64 pursuits, all involving illegal immigrants, several of which resulted in the death of a police officer?
The whole thing is garbled and senseless, and McCain just added to the confusion.
No one will ever clarify the point, or check the statistic, because that would be “taking sides”, or “questioning a police officer” and those things are forbidden.
Fern
@Cain:
Sometimes it’s a litter box protest.
I had been using a litter box with a lid, and apparently it gets kinda whiffy in there. I had also been using that silicone litter and I guess she didn’t like the feel of it.
I suggest trying Cat Attract litter for a while and see if that works – it worked very well with one of my girls who had taken to peeing on the couch. After the behaviour got sorted out, I switched to a wheat-based litter and have had no trouble since.
Good luck. I had to put a cat down once because she was peeing all over everything and nothing worked.
trollhattan
@Randy P:
Little white things are likely protoants, not aphids. They’re movin’ on up!
Do you live in California? If so, they’re Argentine ants and you’re doomed to sharing your life with them. I understand from the propellorheads they can be baited in spring using boric acid in sugar water. They ignore every brand of bait I’ve wasted my money on at Home Despot.
LGRooney
Get a basselope!!
Gene
I like dandelions. I may be alone in this, but when they come up with all the fuzzy seeds I like to blow them or kick the seeds off and I like the yellow flowers. I think the yellow flowers look nice and bright, after a dull winter.
scav
OK, so will the hormones in chickens, in addition to causing the disappearance of hair on men, cause the disappearance of dandelions on lawns? At roots, we are talking of similar issues. Which also ties in using, possibly root, vegetables to barter for medical and/or lawn care. (I won’t go into using vegetables to pay for Schiavo’s long-term care. Except that I just did.)
Randy P
@trollhattan: No, SE Pennsylvania (Philly area). Do you have a link on “protoants”? I’ve never heard of those.
Surly Duff
@Fergus Wooster:
You don’t braise collards Yankee!
trollhattan
@Randy P:
Hi Randy,
Ant pupae, or li’l baby ants. They were probably either relocating or expanding their tiny ant empire.
http://www.google.com/images?q=ant+pupae&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=zbDQS4z7KonasgO11-nJCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA8QsAQwAA&safe=active
Our left coast Argentine ant invasion is considered a “supercolony” that basically runs the length of the state. In the time we’ve been in our home they’ve driven out the native ants and set up shop everywhere. I like them not one bit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_ant
Tax Analyst
@JMC in the ATL:
Sounds like a very neat cat friend to have had. Taking a pet on that final ride is a very wrenching thing to have to do, but when they’ve got nothing left but suffering it’s the right thing. It hurts to watch them in pain with a condition you can’t get cured or treated. They look to you to do something and you’re helpless and don’t speak “cat” to explain it. I remember that “C’mon man, do something…even if you have to take me to that lousy torturing vet” expression Loki had and that was quite some time ago.
It sounds like Hemlock enjoyed his days with you and you have some very nice memories of it all.
Nazgul35
@JMC in the ATL:
Sorry to hear this. I lost my little girl two weeks ago today. The pain will lessen with time and give way to the pleasant memories you had together.
Joel
The closest thing you’re going to get to a low-labor (i.e. minimal digging) and chemical-free wholesale weed control is solarization. It’s incredibly effective but does mean that you’re going to spend the summer with a plastic tarp over your lawn.
I can imagine that the summers in WV are incredibly hot so you should have little problem annihilating your resident dandelion population. They key is to water your soil heavily before laying down the sheeting (1mil is recommended). I’ve found that burying the edges works much better than holding them down with stakes or stones.
By the way, some sites misinform you to use black plastic; this won’t work. It blocks light but what you really want is to ramp up the soil temperature to 150 degrees or more. With the water you’ll get an effective autoclave-like condition and sterilize your soil. In order for this to happen, you need to let infrared light pass through, something that black plastic does a poor job at (the heat is transferred to the soil by conductance instead of radiation).
If you lay down the tarp now, with the heavy watering underneath, you’ll be able to completely wipe out everything on your lawn, and under it, in time for the fall grass planting.
Low cost, low labor, relatively environmentally friendly.
DonkeyKong
“Nuk’em from orbit, It’s the only way to be sure.”
Gus
Leave the dandelions alone. You can’t beat them.
Gus
@JMC in the ATL: My condolences. Sounds like you gave him a good life and vice versa.
currants
@John Cole: Guess you wouldn’t want to hear that some people might have a goal in mind of converting all mowable space to garden and wildflower. Don’t blame me, it’s Second Nature’s fault (Pollan).
shep
If you like yard tools, you might give this a try:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=weed+hound&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2175339905217306755&ei=dcnQS5aIEIzYtgPI1djFCQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers
asiangrrlMN
@JMC in the ATL: I’m so sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences. May Hemlock be happily lazing about on the other side.
@Cain: My boy, Raven does the same thing, but, thankfully, on hard floor and much less frequently. He does it when he’s stressed. I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry.
P.S. Cole, I like dandelions, so I cannot give you any help there.
ErinSiobhan
Devices like that Weed Hound are great for dandelions. Because dandelions have a straight tap root, they are very easy to pull with the proper tool.
Fred Fnord
@Tim F.: You mean, of course, dicotyledonous?
-fred