So.....after being conquered yet another year by weeds that not only depleted my yields, but weakened my plants, helped spread disease (I'm sure) and harbored foliage eating pests, not to mention took away from my overall enthusiasm about the garden by the end of the season, I have another plan this year.
Last year some of you may remember that I dug deep into the walkways of the garden and back filled with mulch about 5" deep. The dirt removed from the walkways was added to the planting areas and left me about 8" deep in nice, healthy, rich, worm infested soil. Oh yes! The weeds loved it. So I have no choice but to go to raised beds. But I can't afford the lumber. So here it is.
I am buying white 55 gallon drums from a lady at about $6 a piece. I am cutting them in half lengthwise and using them as a sort of trough planter. Or at least that's the plan. Any suggestions? I am drilling 1" holes in the bottoms for drainage. And even though some weeds will undoubtedly find their way into the planters, they should be easy to pick out and control. I am spacing the barrels out just far enough to get the lawnmower between them in all directions.
[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v687/grnpez/newgarden.jpg[/img]
I'll hook u up. lol
hmmm ... there are a couple of things that bother me about that:
(1) your plants will be "stuck" with a fixed depth of soil. they will not be able to send their roots deeper to look for water and nutrients.
(2) this is just my personal opinion, and I don't mean it to sound judgemental, but I just don't like plastic in the garden.
I suppose that a lot of folks would think that I am weird in that way, but a "natural" garden atmosphere is very enjoyable and therapeutic to me. All that plastic would really bother me, no matter how clean it is.
(1) your plants will be "stuck" with a fixed depth of soil. they will not be able to send their roots deeper to look for water and nutrients.
(2) this is just my personal opinion, and I don't mean it to sound judgemental, but I just don't like plastic in the garden.
I suppose that a lot of folks would think that I am weird in that way, but a "natural" garden atmosphere is very enjoyable and therapeutic to me. All that plastic would really bother me, no matter how clean it is.
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rainbowgardener
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yeah, sorry, but I don't quite get it. Weeds can grow inside your containers just as well as anywhere else. I guess it makes them seem a little bit more manageable since you can weed out one or a few containers at a time and each one only takes a couple minutes. But the total number of weeds is the same.
But it feels to me like mulching inside all the little containers would be a lot harder and I think mulching is the key to weed control. Were you mulching the beds you had this year that you had the weed problems with?
I plant thickly so there's not too much bare dirt (interplanting smaller things in between larger ones) and mulch well and have little trouble with weeds.
I would worry about drainage, air and water circulation, (I know you put holes in them, but that's still not the same as just being in soil), space for roots, and chemicals leaching out of the plastic (not chemicals that were stored in in, chemicals from the plastic itself).
But it feels to me like mulching inside all the little containers would be a lot harder and I think mulching is the key to weed control. Were you mulching the beds you had this year that you had the weed problems with?
I plant thickly so there's not too much bare dirt (interplanting smaller things in between larger ones) and mulch well and have little trouble with weeds.
I would worry about drainage, air and water circulation, (I know you put holes in them, but that's still not the same as just being in soil), space for roots, and chemicals leaching out of the plastic (not chemicals that were stored in in, chemicals from the plastic itself).
Farmerlon, I think I'll be ok with root depth. Truth be told I only had about 6 or 8 good inches of soil in my raised beds. Then there was a hard pan layer of solid Virginia clay. Not exactly preferred for growing plants. With the barrels I have 11.5 inches depth for the roots. I think it should be plenty. The plastic does take away from the feung shui (sp?) of the garden, if it's too horrible maybe I can paint them or build up around them with something more aesthetic.farmerlon wrote:hmmm ... there are a couple of things that bother me about that:
(1) your plants will be "stuck" with a fixed depth of soil. they will not be able to send their roots deeper to look for water and nutrients.
(2) this is just my personal opinion, and I don't mean it to sound judgemental, but I just don't like plastic in the garden.
I suppose that a lot of folks would think that I am weird in that way, but a "natural" garden atmosphere is very enjoyable and therapeutic to me. All that plastic would really bother me, no matter how clean it is.
Nothing personal on the like/dislike on the plastic in the garden. I actually agree with you. However, when the weeds have chased you out of the garden by mid august and rob you of the last month and a half of enjoyment, well, you compromise. I hear what you're saying about chemicals possibly coming from the plastics, I thought about it, and I don't think it will be too significant. Anyways, theres no way of even keeping chemicals out of the soil from rainwater etc. They're just there, it's a sad fact of the modern world.
RG, the weeds can grow in the containers as well, but they will be much more managable. I don't overcrowd too much in the garden so I do end up with lots of space between plants. And once that hot sun kicks into high gear, even weeding everty day isn't enough to keep up with them. The reason I think the containers will help is that once the weeds are plucked from the soil, they won't be able to spread into the containers from surrounding areas. I mulched and weeded my a$$ off last year, and the stinkin things grew right threw the mulch. 5" of it!! that's when I decided something had to change.rainbowgardener wrote:yeah, sorry, but I don't quite get it. Weeds can grow inside your containers just as well as anywhere else. I guess it makes them seem a little bit more manageable since you can weed out one or a few containers at a time and each one only takes a couple minutes. But the total number of weeds is the same.
But it feels to me like mulching inside all the little containers would be a lot harder and I think mulching is the key to weed control. Were you mulching the beds you had this year that you had the weed problems with?
I plant thickly so there's not too much bare dirt (interplanting smaller things in between larger ones) and mulch well and have little trouble with weeds.
I would worry about drainage, air and water circulation, (I know you put holes in them, but that's still not the same as just being in soil), space for roots, and chemicals leaching out of the plastic (not chemicals that were stored in in, chemicals from the plastic itself).
I have added lots of worm s tot he soil in the containers as I am going so hopefully they will help with drainage and air flow. We shall see. I may need to put very small holes all along the sides of the containers.
My largest goal is to stop the weeds from spreading into the containers. In the raised beds I would pick a weed and the next day there would be another in the same spot. It was impossible to keep up with without using chemical herbicides. The containers aren't too small so I don't think mulching will be as big a deal as you think. They are about 3'x2' each and I am planning on having about 100 of them. We shall see. I dug channels out underneath to keep the round bellied barrels steady, this should also help with drainage since the draining water won't right into solid ground as it tries to exit the barrel. It may be an epic fail, idk. But I think it's worth a shot.
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rainbowgardener
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DeborahL
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I like clay containers but even those, all natural as they are, are supposed to leach lead.
I wonder what food was like in Biblical times? Imagine food grown in pure air, pure soil, where the only pollution would have been wood smoke. It must have been more nutritious and more delicious than we can imagine.
I wonder what food was like in Biblical times? Imagine food grown in pure air, pure soil, where the only pollution would have been wood smoke. It must have been more nutritious and more delicious than we can imagine.
I mulched with fresh wood chips. Mixed tree species. But it wasn't foreign weeds the came into my yard via the mulch. It was the things that grow in my yard that pushed right through it. Some kind of Bermuda grass that the previous owner loved (for some reason) and some other little plant. They spread like wildfire and seem to come back if even the smallest portion of root is left in the ground.soil wrote:what did you mulch with? what type of weeds were you dealing with?
Jal, I have access to all the free composted horse manure I can handle. I am planning on filling the barrels with a mix of that and some garden soil. I will be adding compost and worms to the barrels all winter hoping that it will be ok for the plants come spring. I used a lot of it last year and didn't have any problems so I think it'll be fine. The lettuce and basil particularly loved growing in it!