We moved into our house in May of 2010. One of the first items on the to-do list was clearing the thistles in the backyard.
These were not your ordinary thistles that randomly show up in the lawn. These were soulless devils that had been given free range of our new backyard for the past 2 years (my guess based on talking with our new neighbors). They had completely conquered the left side of our yard, growing waist high and spreading virally.
Ever heard that expression, “A weed is just an unloved flower”? No my friends, a weed is a infinite invasion of irritation, and thistles, with their think thorns and evolutionarily designed deep taproot and strong stem system are the worst offenders.
Kris, mid-destruction
Looking back, it seems I underestimated (or repressed) the actual size of these adversaries; it appears that these suckers topped Kris’ shoulder level. Here’s another picture taken from my camera phone; it’s all we had at the time.
So manly...
After much finagling, Kris agreed to take out these weeds once and for all. Little did I know, but thistles just keep coming back. Luckily, we now dig them up before they explode out of control.
We tried to cut up the thistles with our lawn mower to make it easier to place in the green waste container, but, as you can see from this image, our little black mower’s bag couldn’t handle that kind of work, and this wasn’t even half of them!
Our lawnmower couldn't stand a chance
Still, by the time we, well, he, had finished, we had enough thistle carnage to last a lifetime.
The Carnage
Three weeks worth of filling the green waste bucket, and the thistles were gone, well, managed. And behind all of that impassability, we found ourselves this…
- One Perfect Avocado
It was divine.
I have never had to deal with thistles. I am so thankful that I am able to state that fact.
What a great story to “read” about.
And the discovered avacado should be the first of many more given that the tree has shot up in only a year after rescuing it from eventual suffocation. Ummmm, can’t wait till you can eventually have a post about guacamole from the tree