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tomf
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Gone to H!

I have been working on the house this summer, when it does not rain so I have no time to grow a garden. I wanted to put black plastic over the garden this summer. My wife insisted she would take care of a small garden if I put one in; she never did much weeding to start with and after all that has happened this summer the garden has gone to H. The weeds have taken over as she did not keep up with them now I fear the weed seeds are even worse. I am going to dig up the drip line and mow every thing down spread black plastic in hopes of killing off the weed seed. I am kind of sad about this as last year I had such a good garden.



Photo from last year.
[img]https://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/twistedtomf/Garden%202010b/_DSC0063.jpg[/img]

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Weed seeds can be a nightmare. I got a truck load of manure one year it that was full of hay and weed seeds. I had very good crop of weeds every year for about 7 years. The first 4 years was very hard work to keep the weeds out. If you can find some brush, wood, sticks anything to burn build a fire in the garden it will kill most weed seeds. Do not till the garden if the seeds are on the surface of the soil they are easy to burn up. The wood ash is very good for the garden.

You can probably cut down every thing you have growing. Let it dry in the hot sun for about 1 week then set it on fire. That will probably kill 98% of the weed seeds.

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Fig3825
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Just remember the 'rule of thumb' when disciplining your wife.

:wink:

DoubleDogFarm
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Are you encouraging wife beating! Beating with a rod no bigger than your thumb. I know you are kidding :wink:

Eric

CharlieBear
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Have you considered lasagna gardening or sheet mulching (similar ideas, but from different gardening frames of reference. It seems to work better for me than black plastic, which seems only good for killing grass, but not the perenial weeds.

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tomf
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I like the burn it idea, I will cut and drag it with the tractor to the middle then burn it first. I have to find a way to kill off the seeds, I will most likely cover and kill them with black plastic; I fear it may hurt the good stuff in the soil but I cannot fight weeds all the time as there is too much work to be done here. . I am kind of thinking of corn gluten to keep them from germinating. I plant all starts I grow in the green house so it may be ok. Any thing bad about corn gluten?

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tomf
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We were told that we are not allowed to use the term "rule of thumb" at work.
When I went in the hospital for an exam I was asked if I felt safe at home and if there was any violence in my home. My wife only hits me if I tickle her; I do not tickle her so she does not hit me. :oops: :shock:

gardenvt
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It's not fair to blame the spouse for lack of weeding. I am the main gardener and jokinly told my husband his job was weeding (raised beds and pots aren't so difficult).

On occassion, he pulls a few out but I generally do this when watering or harvesting.

If I had the space, I would do the lasagna gardening method. The black plastic will be in the land fill forever and the burn - geez, think of the environment.

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soil
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burning it will only encourage different weeds that flourish after fires.

DoubleDogFarm
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I'm thinking a little burning is just a peck on the surface. It will do nothing against the thousands of seed in the soil. I like the permanent mulch approach


Eric

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tomf
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gardenvt wrote:It's not fair to blame the spouse for lack of weeding. I am the main gardener and jokinly told my husband his job was weeding (raised beds and pots aren't so difficult).

On occassion, he pulls a few out but I generally do this when watering or harvesting.

If I had the space, I would do the lasagna gardening method. The black plastic will be in the land fill forever and the burn - geez, think of the environment.
Well in my case it is; I have been doing major construction on our house and doing 95% of the yard work, there is a lot of that to be done. Yesterday I was working on a road to a part of our land. I have been cutting fire wood for the winter. I also get a bit of the house work and taking care of her dad who lives with us. I also have a job and she does not so I told her that I would not have time to weed. I just feel it would have been better if I just planted a cover crop and killed all the weeds this year. I would have enjoyed fresh vegis so I put a garden in for her as she asked me to do. I can only do so much work; one has to realize the scale of things when working a large amount of land. My street has a 20 acre minimum lot size and all the lots are bigger than that.

The main thing I am facing is not the disappointment of having planted a garden and set up a drip system for her as what am I going to do to fight the weeds.

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Fig3825
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I'm hoping everyone with those serious replies were simply playing along with my joke... If I was taken seriously, I'll never act silly on these forums again!

DoubleDogFarm
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Fig3825 wrote:I'm hoping everyone with those serious replies were simply playing along with my joke... If I was taken seriously, I'll never act silly on these forums again!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. :lol: :lol: Playing along. Maybe you have not noticed, I am a bit of a goof. I try to lighten things up some.

I have a friend that likes to drop by and offer his worldly advice. He offers suggestions like, "You should marry a Filipino women so her whole family will move in and work the land." Instead of growing 20ft of onion, you should grow 200ft of onion. Then at the farmers market under cut everyone. Instead of 12 ducks, you should have 50 egg laying ducks.
I say, come help! Hard work talks, bullspit walks.

Hang in there Tom.

Eric

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Fig3825
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No problem. I just had to be sure. Last thing I need is to start offending people in my virtual life as much as I do in my real life. ;)

Right now, I just want to find out what has been eating my corn and brutally murder it. I just hope it isn't my neighbor because I really don't want to go to jail.

DoubleDogFarm
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Well, I've been accused of being a offender, just ask Stella. :lol: :lol: Most of the time it's a misunderstanding and or poor writing on my part. Body language doesn't show through the key board.

Eric

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jal_ut
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Oh My Gosh!!!

Weeds go with gardening! Not a big deal!

Harvest what you can. Enjoy it!

When the harvest is over, its rototiller time. Till everything under. Till in all the weeds along with the garden leftovers. Weeds make worm food and add to the organic matter in the soil too. Water up the weed seed and till again!



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