Did you know that a blade of grass can cut you pretty badly?

I did too, back about 30 years ago - without the sadistic men... I would keep my keys out and use them to touch the metal cases with the keys to bleed off the worst of the static - generally only a problem in the winter... I would've pulled them in 1999, but by then I was already deeply in pain from the fibro, and didn't want to also be in pain from the 3 foot tall sticky dandies too, I sprayed them down and killed them. I spent a few years going thru my yard pulling up the sticker plants and for a long time didn't have any of them growing, but since the fibro, that's all gone to hell in a hand basket.

Yeah, I hate wearing garden gloves, too, but I know now that wearing them is a smart thing to do. I've only used herbicides on the poison ivy around here. Living in the mountains, with about one acre or so of wooded area, we have a LOT of poison ivy and I don't want to touch it, not even with gloves on. I use Neosporin with pain reliever. It works great! It's probably much like Carmex in that it's an ointment and prevents the edges of the cuts from drying out. It also helps relieve most of the pain, which is always a bonus! LOL Many, many, MANY moons ago, I was a file clerk. The file room was large and carpeted. Not only did I have to contend with the constant paper cuts, but also getting static shocks from walking on that carpet and touching the file cabinets! A couple of mean, sadistic people who worked there (men, naturally) loved to come into the file room, shuffle their feet along the carpet, then touch me just to shock me. Idiots! I always had a ready supply of Neosporin and Bandaids at work with me. I also learned, quite fast, to always have a can of Static Guard with me!

My brother's used to wake me up on Saturday mornings blowing grass in my ears! LOL And yep, established weeds or other undesirables (like dandylions) come out much better with grabbing them close to the ground and twisting before you pull. Last week the hubs and I pulled out hundreds of weeds along the outside of our picket fence line in about half an hour using the twist method. It was just after a strong rain, but I've also found that if I water the gardens or lawn and wait a few minutes for it to soak in, I can do the weeding much easier then too. I also like the feel of the dirt on my hands, but I reserve that for planting. The rest of the time I use my gardening gloves. And YES, most definitely, nail brushes at every sink! lol

My sister and I used to do that with grass all the time, too. Ah, such music to the ears, eh? NOT! LOL Luckily, I never cut my lip on it. I had no idea it could cut so badly! The worst of it is right in the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. Each time I take the bandage off, it splits open again. I'm leaving the bandage on for awhile this time. I've cut that tall grass around bushes and stuff with scissors before. After the last time, though, never again! I got such a blister on my thumb! It could be because I'm left-handed and most scissors are angled for right-handers. NOT FAIR! It was also partly because I didn't have my gloves on then, either. The thing I do that has the neighbors thinking I've lost ALL my marbles is I'll pick clover out of the grass... by hand. I HATE clover! It spreads like crazy and kills the grass. But, I also like my earthworms so I don't want to use any weedkiller on it. The only weedkiller I use is on the massive amounts of poison ivy we have in the wooded areas of our property. I don't even want to touch that with my leather gloves and long sleeves! So, grabbing, twisting, then pulling is the secret, huh? Awesome! I know that it's easier to pull weeds when the ground is wet and that's usually the time when I do my weeding, after a rain or when I've given everything a good soaking with the hose. BUT, I'll NEVER do it without gloves again! I love gardening without gloves. For some reason, I like feeling the dirt. I have nail brushes at every sink in the house because of that. LOL BUT, after cutting my hand open with that grass, getting that blister from the scissors and also from hearing of the potential for getting sick or even dying from certain bacteria found in soil, I always use my gloves, at least when I KNOW I'll be pulling weeds or anything besides just watering plants. Maybe I should just carry the gloves outside with me when I only plan to water the plants from now on. Aha! I've just had an epiphany!!!

Ha ha. Funny! I do knit, actually. I've been very lucky so far with them... no sitting on them, no stabbing my arms, hands, face, anything! Also, I learned that the knitting needles are GREAT for reaching that itch you always get when you have a cast on your arm or leg! My hands were wet from watering the garden. I've watered it before with my gloves on and they always got soaked... and these gloves are leather! They take forever to dry. So, I learned that water, bare hands and grass don't mix well. One of the cuts is right on the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. I've tried taking the bandage off to let the air get to it, but it keeps reopening and that HURTS! Almost as much as when it first happened. Man! Was that ever a surprise! I knew you could make an obnoxious noise with a blade of grass, but never thought it could cut flesh down to the bone! Okay, it didn't cut down to the bone but it sure did bleed! I had no idea that grass could be so dangerous!

Ninja grass...that's funny. Hahahaha. Yeah, joint cuts ARE really hurtful, indeed. Have you got any Polysporin? I find that it helps heal cuts much faster. Oh...and since you seem to be "a bleeder", and enjoy baths over showers...it made me wonder what color your bath water must have looked like. I'm not partial to baths; don't like sitting in my own dirt. Then again, I'm not much of a gardener either. Well, chalk it all up to experience girl. At least you can be the first lady gardener ever to say; "Green thumb? Shucks no. I have a RED thumb!" cdrxo

Consider yourself lucky this time. I hear Virginia Blue Ridge crabgrass, "stems" from a "wild" background. ;-) Heal quickly girl. cdrxo

Yeah, "test dummy" is what I feel like right now. Glad I could help to raise garden disaster awareness! I've been fortunate in not ever ripping open any of my flesh as much as you did. I you HADN'T cussed then, I'd have to call you a saint! Glad to hear you lived through the ordeal! I've had plenty of little scratches from wild rose bushes, plus my blackberry and raspberry bushes and also the ever-present thistles but never anything as severe as what you experienced! OUCH!!! [EXPLETIVE]!!! [EXPLETIVE]!!! I basically yelled out some kind of noise but I don't remember cussing. Probably just something as ordinary and mundane as "Oww!" then stared at it for a minute or so because I couldn't believe what had just happened. My brain just didn't want to register it! I've been gardening for a good 40 years now and this has never happened before. Once the blood started dripping, though, I thought I ought to get inside and get patched up. I have garden gloves made of leather (because of the many prickly things around here) and they just get wet whenever I water the plants so that's the reason I wasn't wearing them. BUT, no more grass pulling for me without gloves! The crabgrass will just have to wait from now on until I've finished watering and put my gloves on. It's just that, well, you know, I was right there, the grass was right there, so... it just made sense to pull it up and be done with it. I am very glad, however, that no one saw me do this. I was embarrassed enough! Awesome advice to wear long sleeves and gloves for ALL gardening work. Believe me, I'll remember that!

Thanks for sharing. We have some memories we keep alive inside and now have shared them. It did make me drift back in time to think about some people who are no longer alive.

oh yes dear mentalward, that learned us a lesson. the next time we have to do that thing again, we already know that we should do. we learned a lot with our mistakes.

Well, although I'm happy to know that I am not the only person this has happened to, I still feel badly that you were cut by grass as a child! I'm glad it healed fast, too! My cuts are pretty deep. I like taking baths over showering and last night's bath had my hand stinging pretty badly! I found out that it's not easy washing your hair with only one hand! Not impossible, just very difficult. My cuts are still pretty sore today. I tried taking the bandage off and am happy to say that the cut on my pinky finger doesn't hurt today and that one plus the cut across the palm of my hand are now bandage-free. But, the cut on the webbing between my thumb and forefinger still hurts pretty bad! I kept the bandage on that one because, with us constantly using our thumbs, that cut kept reopening. I'll keep it bandaged for another day or two. I've learned a big lesson! I will NEVER again try to pull any weeds without my gloves on! I didn't have them on because I was just planning to water the garden, not do any weeding. From now on, I'll resist the urge to pull any grass or weeds until I have my gloves on!

Hi leenie! The cuts are much better today. I've been using Neosporin with pain reliever. I LOVE that stuff! I'm taking a different approach to the crabgrass from now on and wearing gloves whenever I go near it for one thing. I'm also going to be using a herbicide on them because we really don't have too much crabgrass, thank goodness! I've been using a herbicide on the poison ivy and don't normally like using it everywhere because I don't want to kill any earthworms or good bugs like ladybugs or praying mantis. BUT, now that I know I have killer crabgrass, I'll be getting rid of it with chemicals. I'll teach it who the boss is around here!

Hi, Chevee! Long time no see! I hope all is well with you. I do like your thinking! Quite a lot of my flowers and even some bushes I've gotten from neighbors, friends, family or just found on the roadside! Shhhhh! Don't tell, but I got my white lilac bush from a cutting I took from a bush in a public park. I went there often to go fishing and noticed a bunch of white lilac bushes and also noticed that they would cut down all the little shoots that grew from the roots of the main bushes. So, once I took an old knife with me and cut into the dirt between the bush and a couple of the shoots so I'd get some of the root and planted those cuttings. I've even moved them... twice! They are now one beautiful bush, growing larger every year. I asked my son's landlord (years ago) if I could have some of the bamboo she had in her yard and she told me to help myself, so I did. I've traded so many different kinds of flowers with people over the years that I really never have had to buy any, but I always end up buying new things each year, anyway. Well, except this year because of finances. But, I have "borrowed" some cuttings from some pretty bushes I've seen around here and rooted them. I think every community should have something like a flower exchange or seed exchange somewhere near the end of the season, or early in the Spring. It would be so cool to get all kinds of different flowers, basically for free, with all it taking is a little of our time to dig up some of our own to trade. Hmmm... I think I might just try to get something like that started! Right now, I'm collecting seeds from my Columbine flowers. I have about 3 different types and they're growing like weeds! I initially wanted to just keep the seeds from planting themselves because I have so many of them that have already planted themselves but I'm now saving the seeds. If you'd like some, just say the word and I'll send you some. They're shade-loving flowers and will grow where nothing else would. You know, it really hurts me when I see people mowing down flowers, although I do understand that some people just aren't gardeners. If I have something growing where it shouldn't be, I'll do my best to transplant it to a better spot. I'm glad you've taken some home to give them a chance!

Definitely get the kind with the pain reliever in it next time! It's worth it! I know all about that stinging. When I first cleaned it, when I washed dishes and when I took my bath... OUCH!!!!!!!!! It's definitely like a paper cut with a really bad attitude! Although I'm sorry to hear that you also got cut by grass, I'm very glad to know that I'm not the only one! LOL

Thank you, krajibg. They're healing nicely. I made sure to clean the cuts and bandage them until they were well closed. I've taken the bandages off of them now and they appear to be healing nicely. I just have to remember to wear those gloves from now on! LOL

I think most of us have gotten little cuts from running through grass but this was horrible! It cut really deep, much deeper than I would have expected! Well, I now know just how dangerous crabgrass can be so I'll be sure to use extra precautions next time. I won't be pulling on it without gloves on any more! Learning from our mistakes is probably the best way to learn. It's those mistakes we never forget. I've learned, believe me! LOL

Yes! It's definitely as sharp as any other type of blade! I had never thought about it that way before but I sure won't be forgetting it now! I love nice, soft, thick grass but this crabgrass is more than just a nuisance... it's dangerous! Once my hand heals, I'll be showing it who the real boss is! Full body armor, leather gloves and a weed wacker... it won't know what hit it. LOL

I knew it! I KNEW I wasn't imagining things! That thing attacked me! As another myLotter put it, "Attack of the Killer Grass"! From now on, I'm sending my dogs in first, just to put fear into that grass's heart! Maybe come at it in full body armor and a weed wacker! Maybe a machete even! Yeah! I'll teach that grass who's boss!

Thanks so much, winterose. I'm doing my best to keep the cuts clean and protected. I also use Neosporin (triple-antibiotic) with pain killer. It really does help to reduce the pain. Now I know why we call them "blades" of grass! They're as sharp as any other blade!

Whew! It's nice to know I'm not the only one this has happened to! I'm going to buy another pair of gardening gloves (mine are leather because of all the prickly things we have around here) and keep one pair near each door. Also, no matter what I'm planning on doing outside, I'll take those gloves with me! Sometimes, when I've come back from the grocery store or any other place, as long as I don't have too much to carry, I'll bend over and scoop up a weed or two on my way into the house. NEVER AGAIN! I've learned my lesson! LOL