I can testify that IF you pull it and pull it and never let it get big and lush, you will eventually get rid of it.That, of course, is a tall order in an established patch of it. Also, if your ground is soft and has a crumbly tilth, you can dig it out. There are thick runners from the foliage tufts near the surface of the soil and the tufts put thread thin brown runners that go straight down about 4 to 6 inches. These have the nuts on them. If you dig carefully, you can get it out, but you have to get both kinds of runners. I have also had good luck wearing a rubber glove and dipping my fingers into a Nutsedge Killer (Image or Ortho's) and running my fingers through the sedge. Two applications, a week apart, will usually kill it to the root. I tend to keep it dug and pulled from my vegetable beds and to use the chemical controls in my flower beds. You need to know that the nuts can lay dormant in the ground for years and then sprout in response to wet conditions. So, it's an ongoing fight. I have found if I stay on top of it, over time, I have gotten control of it in my beds. Now, in my lawn? Not so much. I hate that stuff. Oh, and don't forget this thing also makes seeds. For goodness sake don't let it make seeds!

Watermelons! I never would have thought they could bother those. I am surprised they aren't eating your wife's tomatoes. Maybe the hot peppers being next to the tomatoes is deterring them. I did try making a garlic and hot pepper solution that I sprayed on the onions and soil. I think it worked for a day or two, but after that the voles were back at the onions. They are eating my onions, potatoes, and asparagus. I expect they will get into the sweet potatoes too. I never expected anything to want to eat the onions, that one surprised me!

I guess I should have explained better. The neighborhood has gone seriously downhill since the housing collapse. I had equity once but now owe twice what its worth. Anyway we are the stepchildren of the city, crime is going up and the residents don't take an interest, for the most part. The whole thing has turned into a nightmare really but to make a long story short I can expect no help from the city, been there and done that. The neighbor's yard is huge and this sedge has had years to get well entrenched - if that doesn't get me then the crabgrass will. I used to hoe like crazy this stuff out but then the crabgrass moved into the bare ground, its amazing how that stuff can move a foot or so a night in expanding. Anyway on account of the financial thing I have very little funds to work with and so sodding is out of the question. My neighbors are very unpleasant people so no I don't talk to them. I wish I could move my house and my garden somewhere else, its a simple house but I've done tons of work in landscaping and added a nice big covered patio. If I move I'll never be able to afford another place - it will be to an apartment with a postage stamp deck and I live for summer and my garden. You know if it wasn't for the mud thing I'd almost so OKAY I give up - I don't care what grows here as long as its ground cover so I can quit with the mud tracking in the house. Its really, I guess, a no-win situation. I could get rid of my dogs that would solve the mud problem but I was brought up in a different age/mentality I guess where the person who was screwing up was the one who had to change, now I find myself constantly lowering my standards - and why should I have to lose my dogs, not fair to them for sure. I have puzzled over this and all it does is depress me. The way it is my garden is where I spend most of my time and as long as I don't have to go out into the neighborhood I love it there with my birds and squirrels and flowers and stuff, but the outside keeps working its way in. My children, lke I said, are frustrated with me because grass is not high on their list. It's like they take good care of their cars so how would they like it if their car was always muddy even though they just cleaned it - that might get thru to them better. But the city and my kids and the neighbors have come to an agreement - I'm the problem. Because I want a nice garden. I'm getting depressed thinking of it. As for the tilling, I really didn't mean tilling, I think it just said work it into the ground so that what's down there but not emerged gets exposed to the chemicals. i will try to found more information or find someone in the business who knows, it all gets confused in my mind. I did put down annual grass in the spring and it took over fast but died about July and then I was back to the bare ground. The problem in the fall is that I have lots of trees and about the time its time to do the seeding the leaves start falling and smother any new growth or make it so I can't water. I can't rake the leaves away because the grass seed would go with it. I have spent a fortune on water and seed and I have the ugliest yard to show for it. Maybe I will just put the sedge down I think it said a month before you put down seed and see what happens and if it doesn't work then I either need to adapt / or move. I did try out front putting down some ground cover which survived but it would be very expensive and take years. I dunno. I dunno but thanks for your suggestions I will read again later when I'm not so discouraged. All I want for Christmas is to know I will have my lawn back in spring.

Nut Sedges evolved in bogs, swamps, and they prefer a fairly moist soil to establish themselves, although once established they will grow in fairly dry soil. These sedges spread by tubers, rhizomes, and seeds which are dropped into the yard or garden by birds as they fly over. Perhaps this article will be of some help. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7432.html