The war on thistles is being lost. There is one particular variety that is taking over the fields. I run the cows through. Then mow the thistles behind them. Again and again but it will not give up. I have tried all the organic remedies on small patches. It will not succumb. It sends suckers underground. This thistle hates shade so the only remedy I see is to plant trees everywhere. But I only rent this land. No trees allowed.
Do you remember when the big digger came through up on the bank and dug all the muck out of the ditch and slung it straight across the bank and on top of the wild grasses in the government land. It has all come back in thistles. Miles of it. If I used Round Up -and I don’t – even round up will not kill it. It is Round Up resistant. Soon it will flower and then all those thistle seeds will be blown by the westerly wind straight through the new wild flowers and across my fields.
Now, what the hell do I do about that. This is a rhetorical question. No need for a question mark. Or an answer. I am already battling acres of thistles.
Anyway – I am hot already – it was a brutal day in the gardens hoeing and weeding and planting and watering into the night. The humidity has arrived. Today will be even hotter. But there you are. 
My gates have dropsy. This is the fourth one this week -just falling off their hinges. Dropping to the ground. The ground is drying out and the gates are shifting. And the gates are Johns department. He is in charge of infrastructure. So now we are open plan until his next day off! That and I drained the batteries of two trucks, my car and the mower in the last two days. He was not impressed. I did nothing but try to start the vehicles. I turn them on and they are dead. It is a problem this draining of the batteries. Though I have lots of energy for a while. 
Today will be better. Today there is just me – I can do that. And I will walk everywhere. I hope you have a lovely day.
Am I in a mood? Well maybe. I cannot always be frickin’ Pollyanna.
Love celi
ps – Yesterday I was able to txt with my son who was on a plane travelling to Dubai. Can you imagine!
Weather report: Even hotter. With wind.
Monday 06/12 0% / 0 inMainly sunny. Near record high temperatures. High 96F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
The Kitchen's Garden 
85 responses to “The thistle war”
could you set fire to them in a controlled way…. and who is pollyAnna…a cow? a chicken a pig….
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 at 12:46 PM
POllyanna? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna
I use her name (in vain!) all the time, so your reference made me laugh hard. It’s damn’ hard to be Pollyanna plenty of times in the real-life universe. Especially one overrun with thistles. Maybe you can make a trade of some sort to host a local herd of goats for a good mowing…they’re such excellent field clearers that they’re pretty much the only ‘tool’ that works on Washington state wild blackberry patches that get out of hand. My “thistle” of the day here in San Miguel was finding a bur in my shower towel! Yowtch!!
xoxo,
Kath
I think that list would annoy me too 🙂
Ugh, the thistles! They seem to have come out of nowhere here a year or two ago. They stay low everywhere I mow, but they’re still lurking there, hidden and spiky. I’m always so worried that one of the girls will run over one in her bare feet! But there are just too many to dig up. Grrr.
Boiling water that also contains epson salt poured directly on the plant might work. Just an idea
Acres and acres of thistles remember – not just one or two in the backyard – miles of them along the ditches
We have had excellent luck with goats over the years. I have always kept two goats I make a moveable pen sometimes or I fence them into an area that in only thistles. Sometimes I tether them if the weeds are around the house…they will eat other stuff too. If you don’t want to purchase goats, maybe there is someone close by who would love to pasture their goats. Electric solar fences work well on goats also. http://www.goatseatweeds.com/questions.html
Goats immediately came to mind for me, too!
They are very good at eating weeds and thistles!
I remember them stripping the tree bark off the young trees. Further down Celi said they won’t touch the thistles, though.
I was wondering about planting some kind of ground cover to drown them out…like casting morning glory seeds all over? They tend to smother everything in their path. Or maybe something more native like primrose? She can’t plant trees there, but seems like anything bushy would do.
Interesting…our goats love thistles, in all stages.
Yes, that’s interesting. I wonder if it depends on the kind of goat? What breed do you have? We mainly had Nubians…and they seemed to eat Everything!
Nubian…they loved everything…even my flowers! 🙂
Oooops!
Yes!
Wow…lots of thistle.
Sorry! I feel your pain and frustration, I do. But I literally laughed out loud at, “I can’t always be a fricken Pollyanna!”
Sometimes best to write exactly how we feel!! Certainly fit the moment c
I share the pain of the thistle war. I,’ve heard if you pull them, two grow back in its place. Or wait, was that gray hairs? Ugh!
also thistles – they grow and multiply from root cuttings – and i cannot pull miles of them – most not even on my property
Beautiful bowl of eggs! No-one can be Pollyanna all of the time, your head would explode, it is just not natural! Well I wish I could get extra energy from the car. I don’t drain batteries but in the winter I am so electrically charge I even get shocks from the water when I wash my hands!
You too!! I No-one wants to hold me hand anymore – c
I always thought Pollyanna was greatly overrated; how annoying would it be to live with someone who was always unbearably perky and cheerful? As for the thistles: here’s a very natural solution:
Yes, i tried the pigs on the thistles last year remember? My pigs don’t eat thistles – they eat around them and in between and grub them up but the following year all the thistles are back ten fold due to the root redistribution. Not a long term solution. c
Ha ha love it can’t always be fricken Pollyanna! No wonder you are peed off, I would be too! Thistles everywhere and to have that awful bank of sludge causing more! Try to have a nice day. 😊
The only solution is chemical and even the sprays (that I see my neighbours use) cannot be used on this massive a scale. The farmers round up would probably kill the thistle and everything else as well. But leave even one alive and off it all goes again. c
My goodness, that is a lot of minor to potentially major problems. Some days the problems come in battalions and solutions forget to show up.
I hope the solutions slide into place satisfactorily and that you find your rhythm for the next few weeks without woofer help.
I am in quite a nice rhythm really. The farm is being low key for a few weeks – I hope.. c
Vent your anger on the thistles!😬😬
yes!! c
Convince your chefs to come up with new delicacy dish using the thistles and watch them all shrivel and die in the field immediately 🙂 I agree with Kate … let the pigs loose. Laura
That made me laugh!! c
Torch the thistle before it blooms? Weed Wack them before the bloom?
I just read the post about milking and selling the Auntie’s. Sad, but family first. Are there family farms near you where you can get milk and cream? Barter chicken, pork, vegetables? Not milking will give you time to work on more garden to sell too, plus the need for less hay. I can see the whole sense in it!
I am not setting fire to my fields and we do weed wack but I am talking about full time weed wacking or mowing for 8 hours a day for the whole summer. And mowing my fields is counterproductive too – I don’t have THAT much grass. Cutting them down (or burning them) only strengthens them..
When I cut them I use a pointed shovel or a spade and if you cut them below ground level and don’t leave any leaves, not even a partial leaf, just the exposed end of the stalk they die and don’t reseed. The problem with round-up or any other spray is it takes several days to kill and the thistle goes into survival mode and rapidly produces seed before it dies so thats why it seems like they spread. I had them like you on about 3 arces and fought them for years until I started cutting them this way. It was a lot of work but this is the 3rd year of cutting this way and I don’t have very many this year. I cut for about an hour twice this year and I don’t have any now, and if I see one I cut it right away. Might be a good job for one of your helpers,you can tell them it’s organic weed control.
Ah – makes sense. The ranchers here burn the prickly pear cactus – then the cows can eat the pads….. The burning burns off the thorns. I wish there were a better solution to the thistle.
Alternative is to use goats, but they would require some controlling.
I had goats for a while hoping it would help – they don’t eat them either – not once they are grown.. c
Amazed. I thought goats ate everything – they can clean out a place of snakes, too. Thistles do have a pretty woody stalk and spikes when mature.
I think you need to convince some needing purpose in life environmentally focused teens/college kids that they should help protect local native plants by digging up invasive species….If you say it with enough authority, they might believe you HAHA
(We have bitterweed, cedar bushes, and prickly pear that take over pasture…the latter ranchers take out with flame throwers ( not in winds) In drought cattle will eat prickly pears for water if the thorns are singed off.
Even Monty Python would have a hard time looking on the bright side of all that trouble & strife. I finally despaired in my little homestead in an old orchard project & bolted. Years later I remember it as a colorful time in my life when I was crazy. But with heavenly eggs, veggies & apples. I can imagine your son heading to Dubai. You all are Citizens of the World.
I loved Monty Python – years ago!!