Blanket weed

During the summer, remove excess blanket weed twist it around a stick or rake it out. Free-floating plants such as duckweed can be lifted out with a sieve. Leave any debris or plant matter on the pond side overnight, to allow creatures to escape back into the pond, then add it to your compost pile. 

After removing blanket weed, leave it at the side of the pond for 24 hours to allow any small creatures in it to return to the water. Clear only a quarter of the weed at a time to allow wildlife to get used to changes in light and oxygen. 

I don t suppose many love yellow star thistle except perhaps the bees attracted by its bright saffron-colored flowers or the honey lovers addicted to the bees sweet product. Most find this weed a nuisance and there is no easy way to remove it. It has taken me many years of burning, mowing, hoeing and replanting with perennial grasses, to restore the old pasture. Today it is full of purple needlegrass, blue wildrye, and California poppies, native species that used to blanket the valley before human activity and invasive weeds all but obliterated them. 

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