[inishindie]

Thanks Sive, much appreciated and thanks dermodyr for not taking this personally...

Here are a few more responses from the Facebook buddies.....


"As in One of my favourite quotes""Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself." -Rachel Carson."

"When your in the garden centres it seems that there is more items to kill things than make them grow"

"It is not a question of right or wrong. After researching health issues for more than a year for very personal reasons I have to say that it seems to be the case that science knows only for very few chemicals what the effects on the environment, which includes us, are, not to mention the effect of the application of multiple substances. There is virtually no chemical which hasn't any side effects. As there are around 80.000 of them in use worldwide it is impossible to research the effects of all. Take for example roundup, the most used herbicide worldwide, making billions every year for Monsanto. It was for years, if not decades, heralded as having no negative effects. Now there is more and more coming out, thanks internet, agencies all over the globe are looking seriously into this stuff and it is predicted that it will soon be banned in some countries.
The conclusion: grow and eat only your own stuff, or buy real veggies, meat from an organic source, bake your bread with organic grain, enjoy cooking and baking and live happily ever after.
You may not necessarily live longer, but you will certainly die healthier.."

[inishindie]

"Whenever friends come around they try and point out, there's nettles there! They're my fertiliser I tell them, after explaining they always agree, I eat dandelion leaves, they're lovely to eat, as too are... the roots, roasted, if you haven't tried them you should! Everything else like creeping buttercups etc are put on the compost heap and feed the veggie patch next season! Like Richard said earlier about monoculture, he is totally on the ball, biodiversity is the key, if you go into a meadow, there is a good balance, everything grows in harmony, there is an equilibrium every plant and insect serves a purpose, our gardening practices are thankfully becoming more in tune with the bio dynamics of whole gardening ethos, and long over due, I remember my granddad spreading ashes from his fire on the ground when I was a child, and he patiently explained what he did it for and everything else he did! We had everything fresh and it all tasted so much better, extensive farming and GMO have no place in our society, our planet is being destroyed by corporate propaganda! I just sat through an evenings TV and glyphosate was advertised 5 times this evening! Monsanto, Bayer, ICI and a lot more companies are all about money and damn the consequences to the environment! In my opinion, everything is there for a purpose! We would all be a lot more healthy if we just stood back for one moment and thought about our actions, when we die, our children and there children will be the next caretakers of our environment, if we just did one thing a day to help others learn safer and more environmentally methods of trying to garden and instill natural cultural methods, we as a whole would be a lot healthier and better off. Patience is true."

"Can I just add one simple comment ( chemical free, I might add!)
If a weed doesn't like where it is, it won't grow!
eg, you will only see dock in a compacted field, or on paths. People feel they need to eradicate these more because of 'what t...he neighbours think' than anything else. If your soil is loose and fertile, the docks will find somewhere to grow more successfully. If you keep taking away their light supply (ie cut off the leaves) they will also die. It's the mindset that's important, not the method

If you have patience and wait for the weeds to decide they're not welcome, you have won!"

Here are some photo's to highlight how damaging killing greenery can be. Before this bank was weedkilled it held together well. Destroying the plants destroyed the roots which held the bank in place. One strim/sythe a year would have kept it in check....

[dermodyr]

Thanks for the advice guys. I dont mind a bit of hard work and I understand that chemicals really should be used as a last resort.

Im fortunate that I have no streams or rivers close to my lawn + Im conscientious enough that I would store and use it according to the instructions. I really just need to get my lawn into a state where I can manage it without the use of chemicals and unfortunately its beyond manual control at the moment.

Just to take you up on your point about "taking away their light supply. e.g. cutting off leaves. So in theory, if I mowed my lawn low and regular then that should eradicate the dandelions, daisies and docks?

[medieval knievel]

i now have a lawn with a lot of moss in it. granted, last summer was probably a boon for moss, but i hope it will be as simple as strimming back the eight or nine foot tall shrubs around the lawn, and maybe rotovating the soil with a bit of sand and compost added.

cutting the grass is a bit of fun since the lawn mower left behind by the previous owner only has three wheels.

[medieval knievel]

what is the best way to organically weed and feed a lawn?
i'm considering a clover lawn, but would this be more or less work than a normal lawn?

[sgmgarden]

The best way to kill weeds organically is by using home made weed killers and by leaving out any expensive pesticides. You should try pulling some weeds out yourself, sometimes they aren't as strong as you think. Boiling water can also help with weeds. Pouring some hot water on them can help shrivel them. I hope this helps!

[tagwex]

I was in the local garden centre yesterday getting a few bits and pieces and as usual got talking to the fountain of knowledge owner and he told me that there is a new weedkiller/insecticide on the market made by Du Pont. It does everything apparently. He was using some lately for a county council job (planting on roundabouts and kerbsides etc etc). Does a great job he says, well, at €2100 for five litres it would want to wouldn't it? Can anyone shed some light on this. I do not remember the product name.

[tagwex]

Welllllll?

[Sue Deacon]

Sorry Tagwex can't help. But it does sound like something to be avoided at all costs.

I'll ask my mate Gerry, he knows a lot more than me about that sort of stuff.

[James Kilkelly]

[Sue Deacon]

To quote John McEnroe 'You can NOT be serious!'

[tagwex]

Or napalm!!
I'm not joking about the price as stated above.

[Sue Deacon]

Was this over or under the counter?

[tagwex]

All legit. It is annoying me that I cannot think of the product name. I was hoping somebody else might have heard of it.

[Sue Deacon]

I need to see Gerry soon and he is up to date with all that stuff. I'll ask him.