It always happens – at some point during the summer, I begin to focus on getting all the poison ivy that can be found out of the yard and the woods. And this year, my two garden helpers are both very sensitive to it, so I often have to clean the poison ivy out of a bed before anyone else can work on it.
I’m sensitive to it, too – but I have radar that picks it up, even though it often seems to be trying to hide and then pounce on folk. I stick my hand inside a plastic bag, and use it like a rubber glove. I grab the noxious weed with the very irritating red stem, pull it up – being careful if the stem tries to whip around – and then pull the bag up over the plant, close if with a knot, and put it in the trash.
Too bad it can’t be composted – putting it on the pile would simply cause more problems next year. It also has a habit of coming up in new spots, only occasionally popping up in the old spots. But there is less in the yard every year, so pulling it out does reduce the problem over time.
I like winning, even when it takes a long time to do it!