Saturday, April 4, 2009

Are weeds illiterate?


There is a brilliant product on the market today which is designed to save you, the humble (lazy) gardener, hours of weeding. It's a genuinely smart product made of black polyethelyne. You put it down in sheets and cover it with pine bark or your favorite mulch. The special plastic stops the weeds while still providing air to the soil. There are, however, two problems. Firstly, the designers seemingly tested their product in a parking lot. Secondly, weeds, probably
illiterate, either missed or misread the part about how great it works in your garden.

Either way, the weeds are harder to pull out while using the product. This is quintessential marketing. Only the severely lazy fall for it, but that's probably more than enough for someone to make a decent living at pitching the idea.

The picture is Tillandsia "Creation". No weed sheets required for this plant since it grows on trees, well off the troublesome ground.

2 comments:

  1. Greetings:
    Isn't it the truth! So many supposedly foolproof inventions to help with the garden! We used to sell this barrier by the roll when I was at Home Depot.... but never used it myself as it was pretty easy to see the pitfalls of believing such silliness!
    In regards to A. sikokianum, it is truly dazzling! A. sikokianum 'Silver Splendor' adds startling pewter variegations to their leaves. I have never grown it because everytime I thought I might, A. candidissimum would always win out! Do you have it in your garden? Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment, greatly appreciated!

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  2. Teza: I don't have any Arisaema species (most are a bit of a challenge in a warmer climate) I have Amorphophallus hewittii, A. konjac and A. paeoniifolius instead.

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