Something I hadn't bargained for was battling bindweed. It had been running amok in the forsythia bushes that I dug out. Chemical controls don't even work on those monsters, its a matter of pulling every sprout at least every 2 weeks for the next 2 -3 years (during the growing season). Starving them by denying them ability to photosynthesize has been the only way I've been able to get bindweed under control. Monotonous, but at least its easy work. Since I don't have much planted there yet the hoe works well. ....which reminds me, I need a new hoe- mine is so dull its a real pain, and the handle is getting weak.
The dragon sounds like a pretty handy tool!
We have a lot of black locust trees here and they can be really weedy. We cut a large one from the back yard several years ago, but the roots form runners that naturally form thickets, so I've been battling locust trees ever since. I have resorted to herbicide for those before. A couple of years ago one popped up in a bed and kept coming back after being cut many times. I had allowed it to attain a height of about 5 feet (which happens astonishingly fast). I bent it over, weighed it down with a cinder block, and put a garbage bag over the top. Then I sprayed the foliage in the bag with roundup and closed it. It was the only way I could think of protecting the garden plants and lawn, and it worked beautifully! The stump had rotted completely this spring, and now a Westerland rose is growing quite happily in that spot
There is, however, another of its offspring in the new garden space, but it will be easier to deal with since there are no ornamentals very close yet.
