(no subject)

[paean]

Dear Alfalfa. Thank you for being pretty, since you came in the “certified weed free” soil we bought, and by the time I realized you were not yet another ornamental Mr. Paean had planted as part of his grand scheme to plant only non matching flowering plants to see which ones he likes best, you had put down 4 feet tap roots. I will enjoy you being mixed with all the other flowers in perpetuity. Sincerely yours, the weeder.

Comments

[dragonlady7]

Oh yes, alfalfa is grown specifically for those tap roots in some areas-- they bring up nutrients from deep in the subsoil, and also fix nitrogen and aerate compacted soils and make great hay and all kinds of things-- that aren't likely to be super useful in someone's yard, but.
(They can grow up to 15 meters deep, I've just found out by Googling out of curiosity.)
I don't think the plants are perennial, though, so if you cut them down before they go to seed, I mean they'll probably come back but at least if you can keep them from setting seed you won't get more of it reseeded.
Oh, no, I kept reading; they are perennial. Well now! You've definitely got alfalfa now. Guess you're right, at least it's pretty.

Could be worse, my yard is 99.7% bindweed by volume. Went away 3 weeks and came back and literally everything I planted this spring is being smothered by it, because Dude doesn't weed and when he mows he avoids anything too close to the garden, so the bindweed was just coming up out of the lawn since my weed barrier cardboard covers the entire garden bed. He'd thoughtfully allowed it to reach up from the verge to strangle all the flowers.
I uprooted four or five of my carefully-planted plants trying to remove it. I got like three bushels of vines out of my ten square feet of garden. I'm sure it'll be back by the time I get back in town next week. Sigh.
(I'm like, hey, can you just-- run the lawn mower right up to the edge? and he gets all huffy, so. I guess I know why I just let the garden go for ten years, but I got stupidly optimistic this year.)

[paean]

Until the alfalfa, we were primarily bindweed as well. But amazingly, the alfalfa mostly outgrows the bindweed, so it's the only thing that doesn't get covered. I tried to convince Mr. P to just pull everything else and deliberately turn the front patch to alfalfa, but he insisted on adding grass in front of the flower patch. That meant I pulling bindweed out of the new sod for an hour this morning :-). I do agree with him the yard has nice curb appeal now. But its a lot of of work to even try to maintain.

[starshipfox]

awww, at least it's pretty! certified weed free soil seems to always be a lie.

[paean]

And if only I had farm animals, I could use it for feed! At least its nothing toxic or itchy.