Horsetail the Garden Devil

See this?  

 

Yup. That's the devil.

 Well, it's a garden devil at the moment. In MY garden.  I hope to have this beastly weed under control in the very near future. 

This weed is called Equisetum, 

a "living fossil" that's been around for over 100 million years that is plaguing my yard  but I guess the dinosaurs had problems with it too. The fact that's it's been around so long doesn't endear me to it because,  old or not, it's a pain in my rear and needs to "git gooone". It is pretty cool it's been around that long.

I've done everything I can think of other than bringing out the really big guns (chemicals that kill everything in  5 mile radius for years) to get rid of it. I've pulled it out, dug it up, sprayed it with round up and vinegar, yelled at it, cursed it's mother and it still comes back. 

 It  has these fast growing rhizomes, these underground stems, that if you don't get every bit of it out of the ground it grows right back. You can't pull it out because it breaks really easy.

 It's really impossible.  

This little corner of my yard...

Pretty huh?

 I haven't done anything with, not just because of the horsetail, but when the  guys installed our fence I do believe this is the conversation they had-

First guy: "Hey, we have all this leftover cement from the posts...what should we do with it?"

Second guy: "humph...don't know. Why don't we pour it out here and when they cover it with the dirt, no one will ever know."  

So, I have about 6-8 inches of dirt with cement under it. Awesome.

I guess horsetail likes poor draining and nutrient less soil which apparently this must because it's lovin it!  

But I'm changing that. 

From what I read, I won't be able to get rid of it (without harsh damaging chemicals) completely but I can control it. 

 Control I can do. I've just let this corner go and not worry about it since it's not really something anyone sees but the horsetail is spreading and out of control so it's time to get on it. I know I won't get rid of it since my neighbor has just as big a crop under that fence there, and it spreads with these rhizomes, but I certainly can show it who's boss.

I want to stay away from the chemicals and go as organic as possible so this is the route I'm taking here.

Organically, I've read to spread some lime around to try and "sweeten" the soil. 

So I used this

I'm trusting since they've been around since 1949. 

I weeded the area first-

Spread about 3 cups of lime around this area-

You need to wear a mask with this since it goes airborn pretty fast and you don't want to inhale that.

Foot shot!!!

Mixed it all in all pretty like.

Now I wait for two weeks.

In two weeks I need to add a bunch of this-Compost. I love compost. Compost is your friend. Compost is your gardens friend. We shall all be friends. 

Yay! you get to see my feet again! Your special.

 I hope I'll be on my way to getting rid of this nasty creep of a weed. 

And spending more time with these-

I love her.