Bindis!!!!

[green-girl]

As some of you would know now, I've started my beloved container organic gardening (I rent my place, so I don't have the right to dig up the yard unfortunately! ) ....

Well I have a problem with the YARD. It is COVERED in bindis. I mean that I can barely walk out the door without stepping in them and dancing around like an idiot pulling them out!

I'm at the point where I am considering Weed & Feed. I don't really want to do that because I'm trying to be nice to the environment and the health of me & my family, but what else can I do to get rid of them???

[Millymollymandy]

Tee hee - on your behalf I'll explain to the folk who don't know what you mean - in the UK bindi is okra - it's an Indian word and as we have so many Indian restaurants everyone knows what bindi bhaji is.

However, in Australia these are nasty thorny things that grow in the grass!

Couldn't you wear sandals or flip flops (jandals/thongs) when you walk on the grass? I thought everyone had bindis in their lawns!

[green-girl]

Thanks for clarifying that! I forget that some people won't know what I'm on about!

Well, yes I can wear thongs - and I assume that most people do have bindi patches in their yards here, but these seem to have spread a lot. I also have a maltese dog - if you are familiar with the breed, they have long white hair - and the bindis have a FIELD DAY on her!

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Green girl - better do some more translation! I love the richness of our language

Most people think of thongs these days as G-strings!!!!! I keep telling them they are flip flops but they just don't believe me and think it is something in the skimpy underwear department.

Back to the seriousness of the thread - if it was me I would use the weed and feed or other selective weedkiller if you have a weed that is a serious pest (like yours seems to be).

Don't know about in Oz but in Europe these days most of the chemicals available are a lot milder than say 5 or 10 years ago - lots keep being withdrawn from sale.

[Andy Hamilton]

Not really sure what a bindi is as I thought it was the red dot that can be worn on the fore head when some religions marry. So I don't know how much of a pest bindi weeds are but forgive me if I am wrong, but why do you need to get rid of a weed, if you are growing in pots?

Seems a shame to start putting chems down when you don't really have to. If every time you go out you pull some more out and burn them then I would have thought that would get rid of them all beit eventually. Not good for asthma I would have thought if you are putting down weed killers and all.

I did have to read twice with the thong thing, never heard of a flip flop called a thong! I was trying to work out how wearing underwear would solve a weed problem.

[Wombat]

G'DAy Mate,

Everybody (here at least) reserves the right to walk around barefoot and if you have bindii in your lawn it is full of little spiky bits so walking barefoot is not unlike walking on barbed wire. Except the barbs lodge in your foot! .

I grow buffalo grass on the front and that seems to have choked it out, but there are a few no-go areas in the back yard. I think if your grass cover is vigourous enough the bindii will go elsewhere. try some chook poo on your grass Green-girl and get it going. Then you can harvest it and turn it into compost like I do!

Nev

[Andy Hamilton]

G'DAy Mate,

Everybody (here at least) reserves the right to walk around barefoot and if you have bindii in your lawn it is full of little spiky bits so walking barefoot is not unlike walking on barbed wire.

I concur, good point Nev, but don't us Brits have the right to walk about barefoot
So are bindis like thistles?

[Wombat]

Sorry mate,

To me it seems to get so cold over there, I forget that you have a summer!

Bindii are nastier than thistles..............they are very low growing almost like grass and you don't see 'em until they've got you. Oooooouuuuch!

Nev

[ina]

When I was down under, we never ever went barefoot, except on the beach - not because of any plant, because of snakes! So it was boots at all times, thongs possibly in town. Some of those beasts even managed to bite through wellies.

Anyway, it looked real cool when you went for a swim: white feet, tanned legs.

By the way, we had the incredible temperature of 19 degree celsius yesterday, and I think today might even have beaten that . We are really suffering.... Three nights ago it was ground frost yet again. And I remember that day in January 2 or 3 years ago, when we had 17 degree. That's Scotland for you. Never boring, the weather. (At least we always have something to talk about!)

Ina

[Andy Hamilton]

I think it was about 23 down here today. We have had pretty late frosts too, right pain for gardening.

I would be worried about the funnel web spiders over there if I was going to walk barefoot.

[Wombat]

Yeah mate,

I was chased by a gang of funnel webs when I was a kid ! but you also have to look up................there are tree funnel webs that drop out of the trees on you! When I was at school a mate lost one of his sisters (who was pregnant at the time) when one fell down her cleavage . That was back before the days of anitvenom.

Nev

[Haddock]

Nev......is it safe to live in Australia???.....what with Great Whites and Blue ring octopus in the sea, and spiders dropping out of trees and hiding under toilet seats......and I've heard the snakes are none to friendly either.

[Wombat]

Yes mate, much safer!

No large predators (except bunyips) and if you make enough noise walking though the bush, the rest of the wildlife will keep a safe distance.

For anything else to get you, mostly you have to be unlucky...........well I've survived so far

Nev

[ina]

Nev,
How large a predator is a bunyip?

Ina

[Wombat]

G'DAy Ina

If I remember the stories they are supposed to be the size of a bullock . I have never SEEN one myself but was stalked by one back when I was in my late teens.

Nev