Friday, June 6, 2014

Alright Weeds, This is War





See how nice, orderly and weed free this part of the garden looks? It's been weeded and mulched and the good stuff is growing pretty good now. I even have some baby squash already. The pole beans are starting to climb and the cucumbers are getting ready to kick into gear.

This is the lower half of the garden. The Sunflowers are starting to really spring up on the end rows too.


Then we have the upper part of the garden. The Melons are beginning their real growth spurts the Marigolds are blooming. It's about time to cover the actual row-hills now since the Melon plants are sprouted so I know where they are. Again a nice bed of mulch for the fruit to lay on while growing and suppress the weeds.

Then we have the middle section.....




OMG the weeds are taking over.

Yes this is how far I got before the rains started. I thought I could make it before it got out of hand but these latest storms came at the perfect time to give the weeds all the edge they needed.

I have three swarms currently residing in traps I need to re-locate and put in their actual hives before they build too much comb off the tops making it much harder overall. My cutting crew is NOT doing their job well, preferring to only eat the clover and ignoring all the tall Fescue, which is only getting taller because they won't eat it. The Small-Hold lawn needs mowing once again of course and by the looks of things I am going to need to start building bee hive stuff since it will take all my reserves to get these latest swarms hived up.

I don't have time for rain right now. Believe me I love the stuff and I am grateful it is finally coming down but I just do not have the luxury of letting it stop the work I need to get done. My tomatoes were almost choked out and the corn is barely peeking above the weeds too.

The storm that blew through last night left broken limbs and downed trees everywhere but it also picked up the stack of metal roofing I had been saving for another project down the road and scattered it across the hayfield.

I think it was a sign. There other day a reader recommended I try sheet metal mulching. Well I read up on it and really as I suspected it is nothing more than putting down sheet metal to block weed growth. Same thing I do to prepare the raised bed areas really. It doesn't add anything to the soil and it uses a resource I think would be much better suited for other projects but this time of year it might just save me enough time temporarily to get stuff done. Right now time is my most precious resource.

So maybe the mud makes my tiller useless but no longer will I allow the weeds to use my own soil against me. I put on my mud boots and went to work.




Here's the first row. Maybe I can't till the weeds in the center and pulling them would take forever but by golly I can weed eat those pesky things down and then slap a sheet of metal roofing over their roots. Just try and grow through that.... I dare ya.

I got both sides of this row finished this evening, the green you see laying down is where I stuck all the pulled weeds from around the plants to kinda act as a mulch until I can start bring wheel barrow loads out again tomorrow. The one thing bad about pulling weeds in the rain and mud is the little buggers don't wilt right away like they do in the sun light. I always liked watching the weeds wilt.

Of course I was covered in mud by the time the first row was done but I might just have enough time to save the rest of my garden this way while taking care of the swarms when I decide I need a break. I figure the sheet metal should save me at least one wheel barrow trip per row as well. Once I have some more time I can go back and pull em up and put real mulch down.

Part of the reason I mulch like I do is for soil amendment as well as weed suppression so the metal roofing is not ideal for my needs but it should help greatly in the crunch right now.




I even had time while resting my back to put the extra frames and feeder box on the newest hive this evening. Whenever you see a two box hive of mine with that black divider line you know it is actually a single brood chamber hive with a feeder box on top. Just part of my loose color identification scheme.

If everything pans out I am now up to 17 hives this year.

I guess when it dries enough to get the mower out I am going to try and mow the section the sheep are suppose to be eating again in the hopes they will like the forage better if it is shorter. Otherwise I am going to scrap the entire thing and send em back down to the Summer pasturage. It seems the sight of all that mowed clover just across the fence is proving too much for the three smallest ones and they are crawling under to get to it. I am also going to try and put another line down low in the area they been escaping from.

It's always something, but I am done letting mud slow me down. Done I say.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


19 comments:

  1. Bravo. You seem to be as busy as can be.

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    1. June is just bad. Everything is needing attention at once it seems

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  2. The sheep are not going to like it shorter. Just sayin' ;-)
    Kept sheep for years....and, hanging head, plan on having more after the move.
    Now, hogs, they would take care of it, but then you would have a bombed war zone look in your pasture from their rooting.
    Who says living in the country is dull? LOL!
    Miss Violet

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    1. MissV - Well they started eating the other grass today. I put another charger on the line and tightened it up some and fixed where the little ornery one was getting out. They didn't have much choice now :)

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  3. I had a vision of some or your horrible wind storms hitting all that sheet metal in your garden,ouch!
    I have run a push mower between rows before to get a handle on things after a wet period.
    You have baby squash already!
    I plan on hauling old hay today.

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    1. Sf - Ya know I was wondering about the sheet metal and the wind but I got it pretty weighted down now with manure mulch so hopefully the wind won't find a foot hold. Yep I counted three baby pattipans a couple of regular Zucchini and an acorn squash already.

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  4. PP,

    You know people pay dearly for mud baths, and mud treatments at those health spas. Why pay when you can take a mud bath out in the garden while trying to weed???

    It's just a muddy here this morning. The rains came down hard this morning expecting more with high winds up to 72 miles per hour. I'm hoping the garden survives the rain and the wind.

    Your garden beds are looking really nice. I can see all you've accomplished with the weeding. Great idea to use the metal as a place to walk when weeding, and also helping to kill of roots.

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    1. Sandy - They are saying another inch of rain for us tomorrow. I don't care anymore about the mud it was a bit hard to just say enough but it was either that or start loosing plants. As it is I lost three of four peppers to the weeds and the Corn is still up in the air. I think I am over half done with the Tomatoes though so they should all survive.

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  5. It's not easy, or everyone would do it. Your persistence is encouraging - good job!

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    1. RP - I keep thinking this maybe the year it really pays off in a life or death situation. Still hasn't worked out that way but I got people coming by to see if they can pick some this year again :)

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  6. Hmmm... I might have to try that sheet metal walkway. I dunno though, the mud would probably suck it straight into the earth! lol
    Lookin' good there. It's amazing what a difference being able to see past the weeds makes.
    Sci

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    1. Sci - Well as I said I can think of much better uses for sheet metal to say the least. Of course if I wasn't planning on building a leanto off the barn and had no use for the roofing it might be a different story.

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  7. That's way too much work. I think I'll stick to going to the wholesale grocery store in N.C. and buying cases of canned food.

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    1. Harry - I think it might prove helpful to already be used to the work before it is a true necessity to garden. It's a lot of work yes but it does get a bit easier each year as I get the skill and equipment in line.

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    2. PP - have to agree with you! i think it is very important to have a few years tucked under our belts of learning what to do, how to do it, when to do it, etc...and learning what works for our particular climates is going to come in real handy if it ever becomes a "necessity". i also agree that it does get easier each year.

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  8. Weeds are my enemy this growing season too! I'm going to use free pig labor, once this season has ended. Nothing grows in their area, if it shoots up, it gets eaten. I see no other way for our garden.

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    1. Izzy - Another blogger I used to read a lot would put a pig into his garden area every Fall and then butcher it in the Spring. He said nothing turned the garden better nor got rid of the weeds so good. I have honestly been thinking about making a new garden spot and doing the same thing only on rotation a year at a time. I do know that if kept in a small enough area the sheep will take everything down to bare earth too but they don't rut around in the dirt either.

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  9. PP - your gardens, even the ones with weeds, are looking beautiful - keep up the good work! and i hope that metal walkway idea really works out for you! good job!

    your friend,
    kymber
    (and i didn't even once call you a wiener in this post. see? i can be sweet!)

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