A reader sent an SOS this week asking if I knew of an organic solution to the grass burrs that have overtaken her "back 40."
 
I personally have not communed with grass burrs since I was a barefoot child. We called them stickers, and they are a big part of the ecosystem in the Texas Hill Country.

When you are young and barefoot, you learn that running very fast through stickers reduces the risk of getting them in your feet. There is probably a sage explanation for this, but I don't know what it is. I just know this from years of childhood experience.

Once I moved away from the "country," I did not need this information. And I don't feel like it's a very promising answer to give people now. Meanwhile, I have noticed that stickers are plentiful here and are especially bad during the fall and winter. Walking my dogs around town, I try to avoid certain "wild" places that they like to sniff. In turn, they have learned to lift up their paws for me to pull out the unavoidable stickers.

A garden expert has told me that corn gluten meal, applied in April, should help reduce the stickers next fall and winter. He also passed along a tip about enhancing the soil as well as an idea for collecting these little thorns when you mow.

But I am still researching grass burr solutions, so if any gardening readers have an idea that has worked, please leave your comments here or send an e-mail to barbara@digandletdig.com

More details on this topic will be coming in the Jan. 31 newsletter.