Re: Boiling water
Sue,
Not to worry, I took your comment the way you intended. But I have
to say that boiling water doesn't work on bulbous oxalis. My mother's
San Francisco garden is overrun by it, and it's relatively recent--it
wasn't in the garden when I lived at home in the '60s and '70s. I tried
RoundUp but the oxalis just laughed at me.
So Mom and I boiled pot after pot of water and poured it onto an
isolated bed. IMPORTANT: If you are at all clumsy, do not try this
treatment! I *am* clumsy, and accidentally slopped some boiling water
onto my foot. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had been barefoot,
because then the water would have run off. But athletic shoes soak up
the water and keep it against your skin! I can laugh now, but yowwww
that hurt. I was limping around for a day and embarrassed to have to
explain that I parboiled my own foot.
Anyway, the oxalis came right back.
I think oxalis and onion grass survive because they are bulbs. Bulbs
are like starfish -- cut them up and each piece regenerates. As long as
any part of the basal plate (the bottom of the bulb attached to the
roots) is alive, those rascal will come back every time.
By the way, the local trendy restaurant offered "onion grass salad"
on their menu. Now I know that some weeds are edible, but I refuse to
pay fancy prices for them!
Janet
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