I bought Round Up.
The weeds were out of control. Chickweed, mustard seed, dandelion, individual spears of grass growing 2 feet high with a root system as long and tangled as the Paris Metro. Not to mention that I have to kill all the grass in the yard in order to plant over it. But how to do that without destroying the environment? Perfectly Natural Weed & Grass Killer, of course! One $20 bottle covers, oh, about 10 square feet. I think my backyard is about 1,000. Despite that, I was optimistic. I sprayed bottle after bottle of the stuff and it did actually work, complete with a lovely, lingering clove smell that must have made my neighbors wonder what was really going on in the pink loft. 6 bottles later, though, I wondered if dumping all of this clove oil, citric acid, Lecithin, and "82% other" was really better for my soil than Round Up, the toxic-while-wet farm-industry standard. The claims are vehement on both sides. "Keep away from pets and children for 6 hours." "It's the only thing that kills the weeds on my coffee farm and allows me to plant what I want." "It breaks down into ingredients found naturally in soil." What is a girl to believe? This girl finally believed that using one-quarter as much product for one-fifth the price to achieve the same result would be worth it for the initial project, to hopefully kill the weed infestations on my property so I'll be able to manage it organically for the rest of our time together. Cross your fingers/stems for me!
