what I did with a mugwort patch

[Toil]

So I rebelled against the dig up the mugwort rule at my community garden, and I did it my way and made it look nice This took me about 4 hours today. Digging up the mugwort would have taken maybe 2 hours, and would have left mugwortlings all over. So after the 2 hours, add in the 10 hours you don't spend pulling mugwort over the life of your cardboard barrier, and later on the time you save because it's no longer a good spot for mugwort.

Not digging - 4 hours
Digging - countless hours


So this big ole mugwort patch, its surrounded by trees, and not young ones. People have been trying to grow veggies there but it's not a great fit. Mugwort likes it just fine but the very happy milkweed outcompetes it. There is also an annual grass that is mugwort aggressive. They have a battle front.

I added some compost and a layer of old old grass clippings (couple years maybe), some branches from butterfly bush I hacked down, a bunch of weeds I mowed, and a bucket of bokashi.

I covered that with wet paper/cardboard as a barrier/food, and that was sprayed with EM and low quality fish emulsion. On top of that I added more old grass, some slightly rotted very rough browns, and whatnot.

I finished off with a good thick layer of very well aged wood chips. (unknown wood)

The soil here is quite sleepy under the microscope and bacterial when extracted and cultured, so I wanted to get all of the life going, not just fungi. Over time the addition of more fungal food will do that anyway.
Now I can keep taking samples to try and see if activity and diversity increase and how and when.

I've always liked the smothering techniques, but now that I am beginning to understand more about the creatures that live in our dirt, the more I feel like I am creating art.

[applestar]

You're off to a GREAT start!
I'd love to hear the progression -- 1 week later, 2 weeks later, 1 month later, etc. In my experience, 1 month later is a good waiting period, even when you're in a hurry to plant.

[Toil]

I told them two months, hoping for 3 weeks


one member actually was removing my work when I did it in stages. Went as far as taking the cardboard home lol. So I did it in one day, and soaked the junk out of that cardboard. I let her know I need the exercise, so let's do it all summer. Only now I make sure it takes more energy to take away than to add.

I like the game. It's like trying to beat deer, and better for the soul than feeling animosity and frustration.

[Toil]

so far I'm seeing lots of flagellates but I'm spotting even more ciliates, in both the sample and in a molasses culture. However the culture seems quite different in terms of the cast of characters. I don't have the expertise to describe it, but if they are eating fish in situ, and I gave molasses in vitro, should I not expect to see a different cast?

Fungal hyphae - I have to look again. I didn't make notes, and I'm confused about which sample had what. It seems so memorable in the moment. I wasn't really looking for hyphae though, since I just smothered the mugwort. What I want to see - and what I'm seeing - is activity. That is already a victory.

microarthropods - nil

nematodes - not huge numbers but a few. I could not tell what type.

[/I]