DIY Life

I am not a weed vigilante. I do not obsessively seek to control the weeds in my yard. "Live and let live" is usually my philosophy.

Some weeds, however, are just begging for a fight. They spread everywhere and are super-tough to eradicate. Crabgrass (Digitaria spp.) has to be one of the top weeds on most gardeners' lists. It's pretty harmless-looking, pretty even. But it spreads relentlessly by seed, taking over patches of lawn and spreading into garden beds.

Got a crabgrass problem? Check out the following tips and reign it in!

I'm a green gardener. I'm loathe to use toxic chemicals in my yard. However, there are certain situations when only toxic will do. Like, for example, when I recently had to kill a tree. Read on if you're in the same boat and would like some tips. Oh, and be sure to check out my photo gallery, too!

The Camphor Laurel: An Invasive Pest

First up: a bit about the tree in question. The offending plant was a camphor laurel tree (cinnamomum camphora), a native of East Asia that has become an invasive pest here in the US and in other countries, like Australia. Yes, this plant is the source of stinky camphor oil, which is found in products like Vicks® cold remedies.

In my backyard, the camphor is a big pain-in-the-butt-plant. My nemesis. My arch-enemy. It self-sows everywhere. I must have pulled hundreds of tiny seedlings by hand since learning (the hard way) to be more vigilant. Hand weeding camphor seedlings is a nuisance, but it sure beats trying to eradicate them once they become established.

For some of us, gardening is fun. I wish I had more time for it, because digging in the dirt, planting spectacular growing things, and watching them change over the seasons is so rewarding. Having a beautiful yard helps me enjoy being outside even more.

Sometimes there is close to no time, though, or you simply don't enjoy doing yard work. There are quick and easy things you can do to make your yard beautiful with minimal work. Some take less than five minutes, others a couple of hours, but each makes an important impact on the eye appeal of your yard.

If you have five minutes...

• Buy a hanging plant -- or two, or three! -- and some brackets, and hang a plant by each entrance to your house. Petunias and begonias work well in sunny areas, impatiens if your doorways get less sun.
• Weed a small garden you have been neglecting: instant gratification.
• Stick a small garden flag at the entrance to your driveway or in the most prominent garden in your yard.
• Purchase a planter already teeming with greens and blooms and stick it somewhere noticeable.

Dandelions can be eaten in many ways, from leafy greens to fried flowers to drinking wine; I almost imagine them as lettuce gone wild. Making coffee from dandelions isn't new, but trying this unusual drink is an interesting way to spend a few hours -- and, if you haven't sprayed them with herbicide in the past, an organic way to get rid of those dandelions in the yard.

Tools and supplies include: a weed popper, knife, cookie sheet, oven, coffee grinder, and of course a coffee machine. Follow along in the gallery to get a better idea. Instructions are after the break!

Mowers, edgers, leaf-blowers. Sod, plug, aerate, de-thatch. Irrigate, seed, fertilize, weed.

Phew! Makes my head spin just thinking about the stuff you're supposed to do to maintain a lawn, at least according to certain yard-care experts. If you follow the recommendations of lawn-care service companies, you can spend hundreds of dollars each year on your lawn. Many people do exactly that, just because they think it's necessary for a nice lawn.

Well, guess what? It's not necessary. Okay, if you must have a picture perfect lawn that's smooth, flat and green year-round like a golf course... well, that's going to require some work. However, if you're like me and just want some nice, healthy grass, then the trick is to work... less. Yes, less!

In fact, everything you really need to know can be simplified down into three tips: 1. Mow less. 2. Lay off the chemicals and 3. Opt for low-maintenance landscaping. Need more detail? Read on!

Not many people really like to weed, although I must admit that I am one of the few who finds it oddly relaxing. There is something about the instant gratification of pulling the weeds and seeing a fresh garden that is extremely satisfying.

Aside from visiting the gallery to to see my weeding in action, you can put these tips to work for you and discover how weeding can be a job you'll look forward to:

• Use a hand rake. I like to use the rake in my right hand to loosen the roots of the weeds, then pull them out with my left. It really does make the weeding go twice as fast.
• Weed early. The roots of the weeds will be less established and much easier to pull out. Just be careful not to weed your growing perennials, like I have been known to do!
• Weed often. It won't seem like a monumental task if you pluck a few weeds here and there, as opposed to spending a marathon weeding session once a month. Your gardens will look better too.
• Weed with a partner. If you can pull and a partner cleans up, it makes the job go faster, and you can gab with your companion.
• Use gardening gloves to protect your hands... unless, of course, your partner is a three-year-old who hides them from you.

There are not many tasks that provide the instantaneous results of weeding, so dig in!

If you live in a warmer area than I do, your flower garden may already be delighting you with springtime blooms.

But here in the Midwest, the first shoots of spring are just starting to poke out of their winter hiding grounds. Each morning when I open my dining room curtains, I'm greeted with the sight of my backyard garden seemingly asking me -- begging me! -- to get outside and do some spring cleaning. Here's what's on the agenda:

• Raking out. I use a small 3-prong garden rake to pull out all the pine cones and other debris. It allows me to get to everything without disturbing any young growth.
• Weeding. My garden has its fair share of weeds. Some are simple, like the wild carrot, which is fairly easy to pull and doesn't seem to come back. Some are a bit more difficult: my worst garden enemy is thistle.
  Thistle has a long taproot, and it's nearly impossible to dig the root out completely. The most effective solution I've found is to dig it out as far as possible and -- very carefully, so as not to kill wanted plants -- pour boiling water on the remainder of the root.
• Trimming. I have an arborvitae hedge that needs to be trimmed a couple of times each year. The spring is easy, because there's no other large growth to get in the way.
• Cutting down. I cut down most of my perennials in the fall, but I leave some up, because the wintering birds seem to like the flower heads.
• Dividing plants. Each year my sisters and I have a swap meet of sorts. Our phones will be ringing off the hook with questions like, "Could you use some Bee Balm? How about some Candytuft?" To keep the plants from taking over I divide and rearrange as necessary.

It's a lot of work, but the rewards are great. Here are just a few of my "rewards" from last year's efforts.

Got a big ugly space in your yard that needs filling? Adding yet another evergreen shrub seem boring? Consider pampas grass! It's a big beauty of a plant, one that -- like all ornamental grasses -- is frequently overlooked by home landscapers.

Here are a few reasons why I love pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana):

1. It grows fairly fast, so is an ideal choice for filling in large, barren landscapes.

2. It grows nice and thick, creating an effective privacy screen, wind break or sound barrier.

3. Its long, graceful blades and delightfully fluffy pannicles (flower plumes) are beautiful.

4. Its vertical angles evoke the tropics, bringing an exotic feel to suburban yards and otherwise drab mall parking lots. Its long blades also create a dramatic and pleasing visual contrast with other garden shrubs and trees. Meanwhile, its rounded and slightly wild shape makes it an excellent softener of hard urban surfaces, like brick walls or metal signs. (See the photo above for a perfect example of this.)

The other day I saw my neighbor using an herbicide to kill the grass that was growing up through the cracks in the driveway concrete. I asked him why he was using that expensive stuff (I think it was Round-Up or something similar).

I advised him to just use vinegar instead. Sorry, I don't recall where I first learned of this tip. I was doing some research on organic lawn care several years ago and ran across it. I believe it said that it was the acidity and Ph that did the killing.

This article on using vinegar as a herbicide says it's the acetic acid that's the active ingredient. But then it goes on to explain that common household vinegar is only 5% acetic acid, and as such, poo-poo's the idea that it's very effective. But shhhhhh, don't tell my driveway; it's been working for me and saving a ton of money!

Weeds, every lawn has them. Our blogger, Dan Chilton examined some alternative strategies for killing weeds without resorting to the use of expensive lawn care chemicals. Based on Dan's inspiration, I thought I'd give you a look at one of my "stay green" strategies for dealing with the nastiest weeds that pop up repeatedly in the middle of your yard. The trick to permanently eliminating your toughest weeds is to make sure that any root which remains in the ground cannot regenerate.

We're almost halfway through our 30-day Toolstravaganza giveaway. So far we've given away several tool sets for general fix-it work, a Dremel tool, a few saws, a router and a drill. Today's prize is a professional-grade Chapin Premiere 2-gallon spray canister-- coated and constructed for years of use. Of course, we already know DIY weed killers aren't worth putting inside, but that shouldn't stop you from filling this with all kinds of caustic and hazardous liquids, should it?

To enter, just leave a comment on this post and validate it. The entry period for today is 5AM-11:59PM EST, July 28. As always, good luck and thanks for reading DIY Life. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza page.