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Daft weedkiller question

24

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Glas. I'm not middle class and I never ever use weedkiller.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I used a hoe for the first time this week - we've had about a month with scarcely any rain.
    Usually there are no days suitable for hoeing, as the weeds would not dry up enough to prevent them resprouting!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    It isn't middle-class horror.  It's environmental and public health worries horror - or have you seen none of the research results on glyphosate in the environment, not to mention the dreadful "marketing" practices of unethical companies selling the stuff along with their glyphosate resistant GM seeds?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Just because it's "organic" doesn't stop it being a chemical which can harm the environment.
    Devon.
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    'Back in the day' there was an awful lot more manual labour - large estates with teams of gardeners, under gardeners, pot boys etc etc. And in a domestic environment, people had more time to regularly hoe, weed, maintain their gardens and veg patches. Everyone worked locally and worked defined hours - there was hardly any concept of travelling long distances to work or working long hours like many do today. And few if any, social distractions. Life was work, eat, sleep - rinse and repeat. And of course people were a lot fitter because of all the manual labour. 
    But there were 'weed/bug killers' around - did they not use nicotine spray for some things and I remember putting sulphur on dahlia tubers when storing them and I think round cabbages when planting them? 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Yes.  The Victorians were very liberal with their inventions of noxious stuff to put on their gardens and just think of all the DDT and Agent Orange that was used for "good" as well as warfare in Vietnam and the effects they have had on people and wildlife.

    In an ideal world we would all have the time and perfect gardening conditions that would mean no weedkillers needed.  As it is, sometimes they are necessary but should then be used with caution and care.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    josusa47 said:
    I did part of my biology degree in France, where I learned about allelopathy. [...] Dead clever, these French.
    I'll take that for a compliment. <3
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    edited June 2018
    Papi Jo said:
    josusa47 said:
    I did part of my biology degree in France, where I learned about allelopathy. [...] Dead clever, these French.
    I'll take that for a compliment. <3

    More importantly, they know how to make better cakes than any other nation on earth.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    N they don't.  They're hopeless at cakes unless you like horrid Genoese sponge confections layered with mousse and, sorry Papi Jo, nowhere near as good at pastries as the Belgians unless you go to top patisseries in Paris and a few other main towns..
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Aiming for "lasagna" layerings of cardboard and compost and so on here PF but the weeds are winning so far.    We left a 4' high pile of chipped bark out the front last year, ready to mulch the new rose and clem beds but it didn't happen cos of the drought.  Guess which weed has made it through 4' of darkness and is thriving!   I can't hoe that deep so we chop it off as we go.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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