That is not an attention grabbing headline, guys. I’m serious. This thing is insane.
But, I suppose I should qualify that statement by telling you that my previous tool had been the same one my mom handed to me when I was 10 and sent me out the front door. You know the one — a 14″ long single handle fork. You had to bend over or sit on the ground, dig it into concrete-like clay soil, swear, curse and complain, only to have the dandelion break at the top of the stem? Yeah, that one.
So, when I say “World’s Best”, the competition wasn’t all that impressive.
Still. This is one amazing tool, if only for the fact that you can use it standing up. Many times, it gets the whole dang root. If that isn’t the most exciting, satisfying high, I don’t know what is.
And here is where I waiver a bit…
How important is it, really, to eradicate dandelions? Especially where I live, out in the country:
That field above is ‘prairie grass.’ Actually that field is weeds. I have no idea why the prairie grass didn’t take there, but we still treat it like prairie grass. And the weeds are definitely winning. So you’ve got this meadow of dandelions. And then you’ve got this manicured lawn butting up to it. And I waiver…
Cuz I’m a fairly organic kind of girl, and getting more so as I get older. I just don’t like the idea of rolling around in a sea of poison. But that’s what you’ve gotta do to keep the dandelions away unless you dig them out. And frankly, that seems down right impossible — though I’m going to try. Because Weed-B-Gone is about the worst of the worst when it comes to toxicity and longevity in the soil. I. Hate. Weed-B-Gone.
Now here’s where things really get hypocritical: I just fertilized the grass and the fertilizer had crab grass preventer. Dave bought it, not me, because he thinks my organic bend is silly and stupid. Yes, we probably need to keep the crab grass at bay. But has anyone read the bag? It’s SCAREY! That stuff sits on the surface of the soil, doing its thing for SIX WEEKS! So there I am with the dog, rolling around on little poison pellets. Isn’t that crazy? For a manicured lawn? Still, I’m the one who spread the stuff. I am surely a hypocrite or organic philosophy.
Now don’t be going all namby-pamby in the comment section. Yes, I have tried corn gluten meal, and other various organic weed control and fertilizer products. For years. And I don’t buy it. I think contractors use crappy soil, I think sod is crappy and thatch-ridden and you live with it and deal with it forever after. I have wild grass that has escaped the ‘lawn’ into the adjoining prairie, where the dirt is natural and isn’t part of the sod and it is so healthy! Too bad I don’t WANT the grass there…
Anyway. That’s my dilemma for the day. It is my debate for the duration. It is my anguish come August.
…And it is my life for the next week while I listen to The Seamstress on my iPhone and dig dandelions with the World’s Best Dandelion Digger.
