These exceedingly warm and humid days have brought on the rapid growth of weeds. Just this past week I have noticed how terrible the sidewalks and landscaped areas of the downtown have been appearing.
There are volunteer trees growing in some of the commercial landscapes as well. I hope everyone will start to take active steps to keep these unsightly weeds and seedling trees under control. Just a few minutes a day keeps the weeds at bay.
I have been thinking lately about how it would be a great incentive for homeowners and tenants to keep the exteriors of their residences free of debris and weeds. How about starting a yearly contest that would award certain blocks of each quadrant of the city a trophy for the best appearing block of homes and or apartments. Also there would be a separate award for the best block in the commercial and downtown districts. Then, there could be an award for the most improved block of the year. And lastly, there would be an award for the overall best block in the city for the year. Newspaper stories would be created as well as television coverage. This would also help the owners to get to know each other better as well as learn to work together towards a common goal.
I haven’t heard of anything like this in another community but I think it would be worth a try. This type of approach towards weed control would prevent the weeds from living long enough to enjoy growing and subsequently spreading thousands of seeds during these hot and sultry days.
