How Perfect is Your Lawn?
Frankly, I don’t care. Come look at mine - you’ll see what I mean.
I was walking to the post office the other day and was, once again, angered by the pesticide warning flag on my next door neighbor’s lawn.
Hey, buddy - see the big grate in the street in front of my house? It’s called a storm drain. Water runs off your yard, flows into it, then goes into local streams, creeks, the river, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.
Oh, you fish? DO YOU EAT THE FISH? How does it feel to know you are eating pesticides?
What’s the problem with clover and dandelions? Why this obsession with having the greenlest lawn?
I admit, most of our neighbors probably talk about us (What is with those people? Their yard looks like one big field of weeds!) Weeds to one person are wildflowers to another.
It’s not even the matter of how it looks - let’s put that aside.
Just think about it. How many homeowners are there in the US? What percentage of them get their lawn sprayed to protect against bugs and weeds? Just imagine how much poison ends up in our streams and rivers. It’s disgusting. For a real eye-opener, read this. Scroll down to the case studies (if you can stomach it).
If what they are putting on your lawn is so bad they have to put warning flags on it - do you really think all trace of that goes away? Do you let your children, grandchildren, pets, and other loved ones walk, sit, eat (in the case of little ones and pets) the grass?
OK, enough ranting, now for a little help.
We have throughout our town, brick walks in front of the houses. If you’ve ever lived with a brick walk, you know how weeds can find the tiniest spot to set root and just *don’t* want to be pulled out. Sometimes (again, I’m sure people talk) I end up having to mow our walk.
But, here is a great earth friendly weed killer recipe:
- one gallon white vinegar (smaller mixture, use 4 cups)
- 1 cup regular table salt (smaller mixture use 1/4 cup)
- couple squirts of liquid soap (dish or hand soap) - this is just to help the mixture cling to the weeds
You’ll want to heat up some of the vinegar to totally disolve the salt or your sprayer will get clogged. Also - don’t pour hot liquid into your sprayer, let it cool down. I just use one of those sprayers you can pick up at the garden center or grocery store.
In the morning, on a sunny day when there is little chance of rain - spray this mixture on the weeds. It works like a charm and does not injure any widlife (human or otherwise).
Try it and let me know what you think. I’ve got to do this myself this weekend.
I hope you’ll feel better about yourself and your contribution to a greener earth by using an environmentally friendly weed killer.
Namaste ~ ~ ~
Technorati Tags: pesticide warning flag, earth friendly, weed killer, environmentally friendly weed killer
June 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
This is a topic near and dear to my heart as well. Up in the Northwest where I live, pollution has made our salmon and orcas toxic. Thanks for sharing your fire and your solution. It’s so easy, people!!! Even the laziest person can do this, and I’m sure it’s cheaper on the pocketbook.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Did you know that if you totally eradicate the dandelions in your lawn then your roses will have aphids? I learned that about two years ago. It suits me because my lawn is full of dandelions, clover and whatever. The solution you mention also works for houseplants. I had to use something similar for an infestation of red spiders and it worked.
January 27th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Oh, I love natural non-poison cheap-as-heck in-your-kitchen-already solutions. This is a great one — thanks. I remember the first time I learned that sprinkling lemon juice over salt removes stains on your counter, sinks, etc. Such an eye-opener!
When you realize that you’ve been spending time, money and energy poisoning yourself just because “that’s what people do”, it feels a bit as though you’ve just realized you’ve been had. Except that this scam got you, your parents, and everyone you know. Incredible.