Green weeding tip
The forked tongue dandelion weeder is my fav tool this time of year.
I literally remove them by hand. Hundreds a week. A wheel barrow full last week, at least 6 dozen today.
Ban the herbicides and pesticides is my thinking.
Tones, Hawkestone Oro Medonte Ontario
Tags: gardening, human health, pesticides, weeding
May 21st, 2008 at 5:25 am
There is another tool made available at the hardware dept. It is a 3 foot long T shaped handle with a spring loaded plunger that will push down a weed that the tool has picked up.
It is the removal mechanism for dandelions and other weeds that the tool picks up.
Really saves the back.
The forked tool is quicker as you can remove practically a weed every few seconds.
But when the back is sore it is good to just stand upright and use the T shaped tool.
This T shaped tool is around $20.00 to purchase and will work for many years.
A 110x 100 lawn with many weeds can be cleared using these two tools in 3 days or a week end of gratifying WORK. Encouragement with a dose of humour.
Find the child in you and play at it.
Tones the eco minded weeder. Please read my blog too.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
My Blog at
http://www.tonessongs.com/ecofreekoblog.html
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
The following link http://www.innvista.com/HEALTH/herbs/dandelio.htm gives good historical information on dandelions. With the interest in the 100mile diet and reducing the impact of the transportation of our foods, and with coffee such an addiction to the general public, perhaps we should revisit the age-old method of roasting dandelion and chickory roots as a coffee substitute. As a teenager, when I visited my closest friend’s house, her Dutch mother made the most delicious coffee ever. Her secret? Ground, roasted chickory. You may have a great value in the wheelbarrows full of dandelions you pull out! The leaves, when young make a fantastic salad and the flowers can be used to make dandelion wine. It’s a great diuretic as well. Pull them out—but use them too (you have to make sure that dandelions you use have not been sprayed before especially if eating the roots where it could build up)
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Raised Beds Are Incredible for Growing Edibles:
In creating raised beds for veggies, I found virtually everything easier:
1)There is no need to hoe the entire garden. Less space is wasted for paths between plants like in-ground gardens
2)The soil is so deep and never gets too compacted so all vegetables grow larger and more abundantly and weeds are easily removed.
3) The toads and frogs loved the jungle atmosphere and the three houses I had made for them for their protection. They ate nearly all the bugs through the day, and bats got the night insects.
4) Was completely organic, no fertilizers, herbacides or insecticides. because I mixed the soil with manure, a bit of sand (to improve drainage). 5) I could go out and harvest for an entire salad or fresh salsa or veggie platter for guest dinners and feel both assured and proud that the food was chemical-free.
I grew lettuce, green onion, tomatoes, green peppers, jalepeno, carrots, green beans, cucumber and eggplant, along with some flowers at each end. It was far more successful that I had ever dreamed it could be.
If you have clay soil, raised beds are a great choice. I made mine with old door frames, wood stakes, and reinforced corner tops with wood triangles. You can arrange newspaper (kept in place with stones) around young plants to keep the moisture in and weeds out.