© 2011 Aaron Atkinson

Yardplay

Mowing, weed-whacking, edging, fertilizing and watering. These are all chores. Tasks that must be done to keep the lawn looking nice. I call these responsibilities: yardwork.

But there is one job that I undertake a few times each year which feels less like work and more like play… spraying the weeds.

Oh sure, I’ll bend down to pick the occasional dandelion or volunteer oak sprout, but anybody can pull weeds. It takes a special person with a slightly sadistic personality to take pleasure in spraying them dead. There’s science to it. The blend has to be nearly perfect. If the herbicide to water concentration is too strong, the cocktail can kill the grass. Too weak, and the tough weeds shake it off like a passing cold.

But when the blend and the application are just right, by day’s end the invaders take on a limp-leafed appearance. A couple of days later they’ll start to turn brown. And within a week, they’re yellow and as brittle as old straw.

With any luck we’ll have a long, cool, wet Fall and the grass will perk back up to reclaim it’s seat of honor in my humble little lawn.

 

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