Garden McNoy
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Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2016 5:39 pm

Weeds or Vegetables Please HELP! New

Hey guys, I am relatively new to growing vegetables but I have been growing many things for the passed 3 years and I'm not half bad! I have been using Fox farm organic products and the garden seems to be coming along.

My Question is:
Can someone please tell me from the provided photos if there are weeds in our garden. I want the canopy to be as open as possible and I would like to get rid of any weeds. We planted the strawberries in the very front of the garden but my impression was they vine and web across the top of the ground. In one of the pictures provided I show the from of the garden and some of the plants are a nickel thick and about 2 ft high.... are these weeds? Does anyone know of a good weed identification website for the Northeast?

I CAN TAKE MANY MORE PICTURES IF NECESSARY!

WE PLANTED Front to back, starting with the front in a 3.5'Wx5'L
-Strawberries
-Onions-
-Cauliflour
-Tomatoes
I feel like our garden was not spaced out enough.

I used my own organic soul mixture as well as fox farm fertilizer, I will make my garden 3-4 times the size next time but I would like to see decent results on my first go!!

Thanks so much!
Steffan


Known Problems:
1. My fiance didn't make the perimeter large enough.
2. The plants have created an almost impenetrable canopy so not a lot of light gets to the lower parts of the plants

I pulled one of the plants out of the ground to see if I could identify it as a strawberry plant or just a weed.
Attachments
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Cauliflour and Tomatoes.jpg
Garden Front.jpg

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Oh dear. I'm afraid most of the front part of the bed are weeds. I'm unable to spot even strawberries, though they may be hanging in there. I have a bed where the strawberries will bloom and fruit under canopy of weeds. What variety did you plant? June-bearers will be done by now, but my day neutrals are starting to bloom and fruit again.

Strawberry plants look like this (photo is from earlier in the season)
Image

But onions are very weak and may not have been able to withstand the crowded condition. They demand absolutely weed-free conditions.

I see the tomatoes in the back -- be sure you have a good support system for them -- stakes or cages -- and tie up the fruit trusses to the wire. The cages you have now is usually inadequate. Start by zip-tying the top rings of the cages to each other and drive a stake by the end cages to tie onto. May need one or more stakes in the middle, too. Tomatoes will grow at least twice as tall as these cages -- some people stack and zip or wire tie a second cage upside down on top. Do all this BEFORE next gusty/windy/thunder storm.

Those blue-ish leaves with holes in them are most likely the cauliflower, though it looks like they are over-crowded and need to be thinned. Cauliflower should be spaced 12 inches to 18 inches apart. Pest pressure is high for these now, so you will need to take care of them.

If you are in the Northeast, I highly recommend this book
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/weeds-o ... 1122980090
I have this and consult it often. What's nice about the way this book is organized is that they show photos of seedling and in-between stages of weed development, as well as cross-reference similar weeds.

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jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

What is a weed?

My definition of a weed: A plant out of place.

In other words if you did not plant it, it is a weed. Yes, you can get volunteers from last years crops, but my experience is that they have cross pollinated and the plants grown from this seed won't be like their parents.



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