An up hill battle

Growing up in the dry Colorado plains, we were accustomed to lots of different types of  nuisance plants. Not much else can survive in the compounded clay earth topped with sand in a region that doesn't get much rain in the summer. For us, there was no greater nuisance than the puncture vine, better known here as " goat heads". Puncture vine is a highly invasive, ground covering vine that looks harmless until late summer when it sprouts " berries". Berries...how bad could that be, you ask? Not so bad until those nasty little things drop off the vine, dry out ( now taking the shape of a goats' head ) and get tracked through out near by , previously goat head free areas, and, inevitatebly, into the house. Not only that, each little " berry" is actually four seeds stuck together. Where one berry lies this year, a whole tangled mess of puncture vine will show up next year. I grew up scanning the carpet for the little devils , trying my best to avoid having one embedded into my foot. Towards the end of summer and early fall, it's nearly impossible to go barefoot anywhere.

So imagine my utter disappointment when I wandered barefoot into the yard of our newly purchased house only to be rewarded with that familiar piercing pain. Goat heads. In our yard. In the CITY! How could this be? We had inherited a big problem. Immediately I knew that we were in for a fierce battle.

Fast forward one year and add to that a new baby , a very busy husband, a severe drought ( killing our grass which is one of the only things that can crowd out the blasted plant), a preschooler and a dog , both very helpful in spreading the seeds.We hardly had any time to care for our yard ( one that both of us are anxious to plow under and start from scratch as it is) . And now we have a giant mess.

Exhibit A:
This is ONE puncture vine that I pulled from our yard


Exhibit B:
The "berries"


So Mike and I speak several times a week ( usually after one of us is forced to hop on one foot while trying to pluck a goat head from the other with out leaving one of the "horns" embedded under the tender skin of a foot) about how we plan to attack the goat heads. It's going to be a long battle but we're prepared!