Poison Season

It's weed-poisoning season.

I thought I missed it--usually I poison weeds around the time forsythia blooms (that's when the weeds are "actively growing.") This year, forsythia came and went, and the dandelions popped up.  They were beautiful.

And suddenly they were not.

Our weed-studded lawn stood out among the rest of the lawns of our lovely tree-studded older neighborhood.

I knew I needed to so something: poison the weeds.

I have such mixed feelings about using this stuff.  I'm living in Iowa, one of the big contributors to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico because of all the farm fertilizers that wash down the Mississippi.  I don't want to be even a small part of that.

Plus, there are bunnies that live in our front yard. I'm not super-crazy about them--they nibble anything I try to plant in the front garden--but they are fellow creatures. 

And food for the neighborhood's barred owl family.

Still, the dandelions are so ugly, and the crab grass that arrives later in the season isn't pretty either.
I tried using an organic weed and feed in the past.  In fact, when the boys were little, that was all I used.  Unfortunately, it isn't very effective.  I didn't notice any change in the yard when I was using it, alas.

The salesperson at the nursery said that it's not too late to use it.  It rained last night to make the grass (and weeds) damp so that the poison would work.  No rain for the next couple of days so it won't wash down into the Mississippi.

So off I went with the weed poison and my spreader feeling very torn.

I cheered myself up by singing "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" while I spread poison.

Let's hope it does what it needs to do with the least possible amount of damage to other organisms.