Weeds can be beautiful and fierce. Engage in their world and reap the rewards.

Early spring and fall in Arizona offers the perfect environment and temperatures for growth; growth of vegetables and flowers, trees and ornamentals and growth of weeds. If you live in an HOA as many do, removing weeds becomes a focus by pulling, poisoning and suppressing.

While saying no to poisons and digging in to hand groom your small lot will not solve all the the environmental problems of the world it’s one small step and one big meditation for you that can have impressive effects. The weeds can be a problem to solve or they can be an opportunity to move, think and breathe for your betterment. Either way you are doing! And doing is good!

Setting a goal-of 15-20 minutes to an hour a day of hand removing weeds gets you outside, provides exercise and in a practical way goes a long way towards permanently removing the offending plant life.

Have a system and equipment-find some thorn-proof gloves, a fork shaped weed digger, one 5 gallon bucket with lid and one without. You can move along your space sitting on the lidded bucket and deposit the weeds pulled in the open bucket. Otherwise you will need knee guards to protect from rocky zeroscaping and really get close to the earth!

As your weeding days go by you will see changes in the types and presentation of your weedy friends. If you are persistent you can clear an area completely and then as temperatures warm this natural form of weed killing takes over. Thank you, 100 degree weather!

You may experience times when you just cannot get particular weed types eradicated or you see a scattering of small weeds defying your grooming efforts.  Here’s a great homemade weed spray recipe. When sprayed on the ground it is non-toxic to pets and kids. Use this as a spot treatment and when you use less than a quart or two and the salt content will have no effect on the neighboring environment.

Natural Weed Killer Recipe

Mix and transfer to a sprayer bottle:

1 gallon of vinegar
1 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of dish soap

You can mix this at the 1 gallon amount or cut the recipe in half. As I mentioned 1-2 quarts (4 quarts = 1 gallon) is plenty to spot treat most front yards.

Hand pulling weeds first gets most of the vegetation.  Spraying is for those vexing weeds that pop up here and there. Spray them with the solution and by the next day they will be dried up and can be brushed away.

Stretch, flex muscles, breathe and move. Let your thoughts roam. Small jobs and big discipline are actions to look back at with pride. Weed on!