How to get rid of weeds in Phoenix, Arizona

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It's February 2nd here in the Phoenix, Arizona area and if you're seeing a lot of weeds, don't be surprised. It's perfectly normal for this time of year. And if you have a garden there is a right way to get rid of them - use Roundup.

No, they don't pay me to say that, I wish they would! It just kind'a pains me to see people out in their front yard, digging around, pulling up weeds and disbursing even more weeds into the neighborhood. I know that they mean well, and don't want to use poison.

The good news is that Roundup isn't a poison. It blocks photosynthesis, which is just a plant thing, so it's harmless to people and pets. Hey, I sound like a commercial - sorry about that!

I keep a bottle of Roundup handy all of the time. And I buy the small size, and I spray weeds with precision. No, you don't spray it all over the place, it will kill any plant. By the way, if you accidentally spray a plant, you have ten (10) minutes to wash it off with plain water. But really, set it on *stream* and imagine that you're James Bond.

The chemical in Roundup stops photosynthesis and the plant dies. No seeds are disbursed, and the plant itself becomes a valuable organic piece of compost in the soil. Remember, you aren't poisoning the plant, you are blocking its ability to get energy from the sun. You could do the same thing with a dark covering, although it would take longer than using Roundup.

Roundup kills the plant in 24 hours, so I check in the morning. If a weed still looks cheerful, I give it a blast, I probably missed it. If it's all withering and dying, it will completely disappear, and its roots will decompose in the garden, which will be eaten by worms, etc., and the cycle of life continues.

I hope this helps. I just hate to think of all of the people out there, breaking their backs, just making everything worse for the neighborhood by helping to distribute more weed seeds, and then throwing away that valuable organic material, which could be recycled back into the garden. And if you're a kid who has been told to go out and dig up weeds, show this blog post to your parents, and ask why they didn't know this?

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