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Garden Gate:  Us vs. Weeds!  |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 26 2010 : 07:50:09 AM
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Hey ladies! I think it would be a great idea for us to talk about weed control. There is still that cold white stuff on the ground outside- infact more might fall today- but we are at the end of January already! Can you believe it? Soon the winter weather is going to be a thing of the past and we will be working on our gardens and yards.
This year I am expanding our garden. It is going to triple in size and I am going to do some fun things like potatoes and watermelon.
The only bad thing is that our lot is riddled with weeds including bindweed- my nemisis!
This year right off the bat I am going to lay down newspaper and then weed fabric. I am hoping that will help in the garden. Then around the garden I am going to go on a campaign with white vinegar to kill off the current vegetation (not much good grass) and will replant with grass. I wouldn't replant with grass except we rent and our landlords will expect a lawn. :(
So what is your plan this year?
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
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acairnsmom
True Blue Farmgirl
1319 Posts
audrey
cheyenne
wy
1319 Posts |
Posted - Jan 26 2010 : 1:55:06 PM
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Good luck with your war on bindweed Alee! It's my nemisis too. We've had good luck with putting newspaper/magazines down then covering that with shredded bark mulch but that bind weed knows just where the edges of the newspaper is. I swear it's the only plant with a brain! Yes, it's long and stringy but really! It's still growing under all that! We found that a 6 inch layer of mulch is best. Everyone says 4 but the bind weed still grows up through it. Also it will grow up through the cheaper landscape fabric. We found some heavier duty stuff at Home Depot, made by the same manufacturer that MJ suggests. We put that down last year and am hoping it will be strong enough to stop the bindweed. Let me know if the vinegar works. I've sprayed ours with Round Up and to was like a "tonic" to the bindweed! This is all at our house in Colorado, we won't be planting a garden there this year since we'll be up in Cheyenne but I'm afraid we'll be taken over by the bind weed when we make it back down to the house.
Audrey
Toto, we're not in Kansas any more! |
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wild daisy
True Blue Farmgirl
503 Posts
Madelynne
Billings
Montana
USA
503 Posts |
Posted - Jan 26 2010 : 5:00:05 PM
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Alee my weed protection is my husband. He just loves to garden and that means weed control too! I usually help out a few times during the season but he mostly does it. My suggestion is to start fresh and keep at it a least once a week or they grow to fast. Pull the weeds young before they have a chance to go to seed and don't leave them near your garden either. Once they do you have an up hill battle.
Good Luck.....
Madelynne
johnandmadelynne.blogspot.com |
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gramadinah
True Blue Farmgirl
3557 Posts
Diana
Orofino
ID
USA
3557 Posts |
Posted - Jan 26 2010 : 5:22:44 PM
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Get your self a hula hoe it is shaped like a stirup sharp and you just use it about 5 mins every day and you will not have to worry about vinigar or round up it will just cut them off at the base and very soon no more weeds.
Diana
Farmgirl Sister #273 |
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katmom
True Blue Farmgirl
17476 Posts
Grace
WACAL Gal
WashCalif.
USA
17476 Posts |
Posted - Jan 27 2010 : 7:10:10 PM
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Oh my,,,I am soooo NOT looking forward to "weed season".... DH is going to try to burn them....we bought a lawn/weed torch & will see if it makes a difference.
We don't want to us pesticides(chemical) but we are all for natural methods....
Last year I experimented with Pine Straw around my Lavender and it didn't prevent the weed growth but it certainly slowed down the amount of weeds. And since we have pine straw in abundance around here I am going to try it more vigorusly around the lavender, & blueberries as well as other 'acid' loving plants.
Wish me luck!
>^..^< Happiness is being a katmom.
"I've never met a sewing machine I didn't like!"
www.katmom4.blogspot.com & http://www.graciesvictorianrose.blogspot.com
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LisaLu
True Blue Farmgirl
126 Posts
Lisa
Wildomar
Ca
USA
126 Posts |
Posted - Jan 27 2010 : 7:36:35 PM
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Alee:
I grow my potatoes in bags of soil purchased at home depot, put large holes in the bottom of the bag first, set in ground, cut off top of bag and roll the edges down, then plant your potatoes, it's so easy to harvest, just cut open the bag, gather up your potatoes! The potting soil helps to enrich the hard clay we have here.
Last year I tried to plant in chicken wire "rounds", I layered straw, then soil and that worked pretty good too...Best of luck!
Happiness is homemade... |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
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asnedecor
True Blue Farmgirl
1054 Posts
Anne
Portland
Or
USA
1054 Posts |
Posted - Jan 27 2010 : 7:48:30 PM
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Alee -
I feel your pain on the weeds. I have lived here for about 14 years and I have yet to get the weeds totally under control. I have done the weed barrier, the newspaper, mulch and now white vinegar - yet still I weed constantly. Some years are better then others, but I think there will always be the weeds and I will just have to accept it. I do have to admit that areas in my perennial bed where the plants have been able to spread and actually choke out the weeds has been great. I am trying to encourage that in the rest of the bed and hope to only weed a bit.
Anne in Portland, OR
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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MeadowCrone
True Blue Farmgirl
220 Posts
Bernadine
Island Park and Salem
ID
USA
220 Posts |
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Peace2u2
Farmgirl in Training
27 Posts
Debi
Hudson
NY
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - Jan 31 2010 : 6:27:32 PM
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Boiling water and corn gluten meal are good weed killers. The corn gluten meal doesn't work on everything, but works on quite a lot of weeds. The theory is that if it is applied in spring and fall within 5 years the lawn will be completely weed free.
I can't seem to control the ground ivy that is consuming my lawn. We didn't have it 13 years ago when we bought our house. Over the last 4 -5 years it has come out of no where and is killing my lawn. I noticed clover growing next to it last year. Any ideas?
All things good are possible with a bit of sun, soil, and love. |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Jan 31 2010 : 7:13:06 PM
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Heavy black plastic, lay it down where your weeds are and with the sun beating on the plastic, all weeds will cook.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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Garden Gate: Us vs. Weeds! |
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Us vs. Weeds!
