Every gardener seems to have one or two weeds that become an obnoxious pest in their garden. It may have started out in one or two spots, but then one year it just seems to explode. Sticky bedstraw ...

Q: You recently discussed cleavers (Velcro weed, sticky weed). I’ve had very good luck pulling it when it’s young. I don’t like using weedkillers on it since it so often grows among wildflowers.

My gardens are being overwhelmed by cheatgrass, hare barley (I think), field bindweed and cleavers. The grasses are thick and lush, unfortunately, and cleavers is thriving in areas I can’t reach, but ...

I have discovered a new weed to hate in my yard. Although its scientific name is Galium aparine (Latin for “to seize”), I prefer its more descriptive common names: sticky weed, cleavers, stickywilly, ...