weeding

if your yard is like my yard all this wonderful rain has turned it into a thriving green field - of weeds! so this weekend while the sun was shining, i put on my old clothes and headed outdoors to pluck the bad plants from the good. weeds are water hogs and take from all my beautiful plants- like all my paper whites just coming up.

around my lantana, i came across a particularly virulent mass of weeds and just dug in. i love to pull weeds- one of the easiest ways to beautify any space. plus you get your hands dirty and i love the feeling when the earth releases the roots. right away, i felt the stings of many tiny invisible needles and realized these weeds were probably stinging nettles. now, i knew i should get up right away, wash my hands and find my gloves. but i was in a groove and didn't want to stop. plus, you can't get dirty with gloves on and i am always afraid that spiders have nested in the fingers of my gloves- so despite having many pairs i usually weed without them.

well, never again!!! 24 hours later and i'm still itching! i pulled and pulled these weeds despite being stung over and over until something told me to stop-probably my screaming hands! i washed my hands with facial scrub many times thinking that would scrape out the little needles, but i'm still stinging. so, today, i asked our resident expert here at the office, chris cutler our maintenance superintendent, who suggested using scotch tape on my hands to get the little needles out. and it's working! i don't have any stronger tape or i'd be wearing duct tape gloves right now! he also suggested elmer's glue- spread it over the itching area, let it dry and peel it off just like we did in elementary school. chris also suggested that next time i want to weed, i should stomp on my gloves to kill any spiders and put them on!

now why didn't i think of that?

here's a closeup of what's stuck in my skin and itching like crazy!



happy weeding!!
debra moore, controller
steven smith landscape, inc.