Tag: gardening

Braiding the Daffodils

We had a beautiful ring of daffodils around our front tree this year. I can’t take credit for it. The previous owners put this in and it comes back year after year, thrilling my daughters with its blooms. After the blooming, however, the greenery starts 

Garden Status Report – Native Plants

This month I am out in the garden pulling weeds, planting, mulching, watering and trying to take a high level view on how my efforts are going so far. Almost two years ago, I gave an overview of the Virginia native plants I was trying 

Eco-Friendly Weeding Tip: Pressure Washing

The moss and weeds that await us each spring.

I have come to love our pressure washer. We end up using it for so many things. Some people might be fine with the water pressure from their regular hose but since we are on a well system, the water pressure can be pretty anemic. The pressure washer really helps us blast dirt off of things, saves time and probably saves water too.

We have some seriously aggressive weeds in our garden. They can be really frustrating since it is so hard to get most cultivated plants to grow well but the weeds sprout just fine all over the place, even in the smallest cracks.
Every spring, we face a line of weeds in the tiny cracks of sidewalk in our back garden area. There is only about ¼ of an inch for them to grow there, but for a weed, that is apparently plenty of room to grow and flourish.

Rather than dig them all out by hand, which is time consuming, or use a toxic chemical, we just break out the pressure washer. We turn the jet to a small stream and it just blasts those weeds out of all the tiny cracks.

Blasting the cracks where weeds grow with the pressure washer.

Of course, there is a downside. It does make a little bit of a mess with all that dirt flying everywhere. On the plus side, you get a free mud facial out of the deal but you will have to spend a minute or two spraying off the sidewalk as well.

My free mud masque facial courtesy of the pressure washer.

Pressure washing your weeds is especially helpful if you have a lot of area to cover. As you can see, the results are immediate and excellent!
My weeded patio.

Do you have any time-saving weeding tips? Please share in the comments.

April’s Theme: Yard & Garden

My time is entirely controlled by Mother Nature lately. It started a few weeks ago when my daughter brought home a terrible norovirus-like illness she picked up somewhere. It spread quickly through the whole family and forced us to rearrange all of our plans to 

Ruly Recap – June’s Theme: Yard & Garden

This month we have been discussing ways to organize your yard and garden, primarily focusing on a lot of ideas that have nothing to do with the actual growing of plants! If there is one thing I have learned about gardening, it is that you