Battling Weeds This Summer . . .

I'm actually glad to see the last day of summer . . . . Here in southwest Michigan it was a very hot and WEEDY summer. This is why you haven't seen a post since May. I spent the better part of the summer being the weed terminator in my hay fields and pastures. Sadly, despite al of my efforts, the weeds are still winning. My madness started in May with a good crop of Hoary Alyssum. The plant had bloomed and I spent the better part of the month pulling it - so much that for a week or two my right arm was so sore that I couldn't even lift a water pail. Later I moved on to milk weed, Canadian Thistle, and Burdock. What I couldn't get pulled out, I at least cut off the seed heads and destroyed. In one hay field - where the mlk weed, Canadian Thistle, and some other unidentifiable weeds were especially bad, we simply went around the area when making our thrid cutting hay, and then later brush hogged it. Unfortunately I will probably have to break done and use a broadleaf herbacide on some of my fields next year . . . I hate to, but there are only so many hours in a day to pull weeds.