Over my last year of blogging, I have learned a great deal about keeping commitments, staying focused, polishing conclusions. I’ve learned some other things that have nothing to do with blogging. For example, I now know that the most effective way to kill dandelions on the lawn is to will them to live.
Tortoises love dandelion greens, so each week I collect them to take to my favorite shelled friends at the zoo. I cared for those weeds like they were my own children, except I let them stay up later. Where once dandelions with large, lush leaves abounded, I now have sickly little plants with scrawny, pale leaves. It’s so very sad. But my heartbreak may be the joy of other gardeners, so if those prolific plants are the bane of your existence, don’t waste money on costly and potentially dangerous chemicals. Just talk to the weeds and tell them that you have a purpose for their lives. I can almost guarantee that they will shrivel where they are and refuse to develop to their full potential. Here’s what else I’ve learned. Weeds are basically teenagers.
Now it’s time for you to learn something about me! Here’s an older post that shares about my career aspirations.
If you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to visit for your chance to win some incredible animal art! Find the details here.
Animalcouriers
July 23, 2012 at 9:14 am
And its been downhill ever since !
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:26 am
It really is sad. I’ll have to post a picture of our sickly dandelions.
speaker7
July 23, 2012 at 9:59 am
I might have to try that because I kill pretty much all plants except weeds. Right now my yard looks like a field of burnt hay, yet I can see one perfect dandelion waving in the breeze.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:27 am
Tell it you have high hopes that it will revitalize your lawn. It will die quietly and without a fight.
readplaydream
July 23, 2012 at 10:37 am
This is the probably the weirdest and coolest thing I’ve heard/read in a while. Thanks for this! By the way, does it only work on weeds/dandelions or with other plants as well?
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:27 am
I think it might. All of my tomatoes are dead.
squirrel circus
July 23, 2012 at 11:42 am
At our house, we like to fertilize the grass as recommended…..ensuring that it will never rain again….so we can listen to the audible cries of our lawn as it burns to death. Ouch. I seem to be in a bit of a dark place this lovely Monday. Excuse my mood, please…
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:28 am
That’s when it’s critical to wash the car or, in my case, hire a roofer. The more expensive of the two will win out and the rain will come.
apronheadlilly
July 23, 2012 at 11:53 am
You see it is those other gardeners that spray Round-up in the night when you don’t see!
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:28 am
That might be it. Our neighbor actually has a gardener.
clairebear919
July 23, 2012 at 12:51 pm
I love your blog! it never fails to make me smile..any tips for a newbie?
The Byronic Man
July 23, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Clover is taking over our yard. Do tortoises like clover? I’ve got plenty.
notquiteold
July 23, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Oh no… if it weren’t for my clover, I’d have no green in the yard at all. From a distance it sort of looks like lawn.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:29 am
They LOVE it. Send me some? All my clover is dying, too.
Love & Lunchmeat
July 23, 2012 at 2:11 pm
You talk to weeds? Hmmm…
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:29 am
I feel that I should say “No.”
ceciliag
July 23, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Dandelion tea is very good for arthritis evidently.. so your tortoises must be very agile!.. your dandelions will come back in the spring.. be patient little grasshopper.. c
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:30 am
They are fairly agile for shelled, stubby little creatures. That explains it!
whatimeant2say
July 23, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Thank goodness Cap’n Firepants has a green thumb, or I would just have to move to a condo or something.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:30 am
I can grow some things. Anything meant for consumption not included.
2browndawgs
July 23, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Looks like you found a good use for dandelions!
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:30 am
We did. Oh, we did. They were eaten with great gusto. While they lasted.
Facetious Firecracker
July 23, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Husband sprays the yard with a solution called 2-4D every year. It kills all weeds and saves the grass. Our lawn looks like a golf course, with virtually no maintenance.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:32 am
We once lived in a house whose former owners hired a lawn service. Which was laughable because the yard was10X20, so we let the service lapse. It took about a year for it to turn to a bermuda grass mudpit.
Valentine Logar
July 24, 2012 at 5:54 am
I don’t think Dandelions grow in Dallas, we have other things that grow here though but only where the grass turns brown. I am trying to understand the brown patches this week.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:32 am
There is no understanding brown patches.
themeredithmouth
July 31, 2012 at 9:16 pm
We scour the neighborhood each spring looking for dandelions in lawns that haven’t been weed-treated. Know what we do with them?
Make BEER.
We get weird looks, but that’s not really unusual.
becomingcliche
August 1, 2012 at 6:32 am
Oh, my gosh! That sounds fantastic!