The next few weeks are the last chance to reduce next year’s crop of thistles. Many areas have been appropriately controlled and are making headway. If you have thistles on, or near, your property, please take the following action before the spread of the seeds.

Using heavy gloves, pull or clip off the thistle heads and deposit them in a plastic bag. Then pull the plant up from the roots, if possible. Leave the thistle plant on the ground as it will decompose. You can also move the pulled weed to another area on your property. Deposit the sealed bag of thistle heads in the dumpster, but not the whole plant. Please do put the entire thistle plant in the dumpster because of space concern for garbage, particularly on a holiday weekend. Please do not put them in the wood chipping pile because they will be spread throughout the community. Thanks to those of you that have cleared the thistles from your property and thanks in advance for those still working on it.