Hi all, I'm new here.
I don't even know where to start with this. LOL.
I've moved my garden closer to my house in the back yard - yay, because I tend to be a bit lazy once it hits around 98 degrees!! and my previous location was just too far to walk out to in the heat, let alone drag a hose out there!
anyways, I've recently set up fencing so that my dogs can hang out in the back yard - eventually I'll have perimeter fencing around the garden to keep them out of my planters.
Since day one this place has had foxtails! and foxtails & dogs do not mix.
Every year prior I've had to keep the dogs in a smaller run that has rocks for footing - even though grasses are starting to creep through. Basically doggie prison until the foxtail season is over. I've decided I need to get rid of these things and let my dogs enjoy a bigger area!
In past experience mowing/weedeating does not solve anything, they just grow back and shoot up the awns earlier, so in the end i have foxtail plants 2" tall with heads!!
My BF wants me to just spray roundup on everything. but I'm too worried about what it'll do to my dogs as they love to eat grass, also worried about what it'll do to the soil even though ten million people on the internet will tell you it's safe. I just don't feel right about it.
I got some 'natural' weed killer called 'worry free weed & grass killer', I sprayed some down the other day & not sure if it'll work or not. I'm at that stage where I realize I have to do things NOW because the plants are growing and it may be only a week or two before they get their heads ( so yes a bit of a meltdown going on). ( worry free is citrus based).
Today I went out and hoed where the majority of the plants usually grow. I threw anything with a head on it in a trash bag ( going to the dump). will hoeing the plants themselves kill them? or do I need to go out & collect all the plant parts and throw them away.
I feel like they're so evil that they're just gonna take root where they landed & come back!
I've tried vinegar in the past and the weeds start to wilt, but then come back in a few days. Do i just need to keep reapplying??
The yard itself I would like to reseed & make it grass to choke out all the weeds, but it's pure weeds right now. I can't really til alot of it because I have sprinkler lines underneath. Is my only choice hand hoeing it?
I also have all the other parts of my land that I would like to get rid of weeds/grass cover so that I can grow hay for my donkeys.
So basically I need an eco way to get rid of a LARGE quantity of weeds (FAST) so that I can reseed with good to choke out the bad.
But I think priority #1 right now is to KILL all the foxtails. ( backyard priority #1 for dog saftey, rest of property #2 - although foxtails are bad for my donkeys - AND I don't want any of them to go to seed period, I want them to stop this year). LOL. ok, does that sound impossible?? Sorry for the novel!