Sunday, June 22, 2014

Sunday Reading - It's About Damned Time!!!





Well the garden is finally weeded and completely covered in Barn Mulch. I wasn't gonna let another inch of rain we got last night keep me from finishing this labor intensive act of love for one more day. To be honest I am already seeing a couple of problem areas where the hardy weeds are pushing through in a few places and some grass creep from the edges. Of course keeping up with it now that I am done with the initial Spring pulling is much easier now.

I turned the last section of this....




Into this today.....


I did have to pull up the back trellis of Pole Beans. I thought yesterday afternoon there was a chance I might try and save them but after the rain which caused huge clods of dirt to come up with the bigger weeds and the literal carpet of Field Bindweed I ran into not to mention the fact that there were only about eight Bean plants still alive in there, I decided to just pull the whole thing.

I was pulling up the Field Bindweed like shearing sheep. Seriously I would pull an entire covering of it up until I hit a spot where it went into the ground then pull.  I ended up with three full wheelbarrow loads of Field Bindweed and Morning Glory which went right into the compost bin and then had some very hot horse manure thrown on top followed by a five gallon bucket of wood ashes. I doubt it will manage to stay alive and viable in that mixture, especially with the heat we been getting.

After finally finishing the Spring weeding and Mulching campaign I got most of the yard mowed and only have a small bit of push mowing to do tomorrow.

The Supervisor was pleased we got to hang out and watch the sun set once again and actually play in the garden. She loves to follow me around while I tie up Tomato plants and stuff. She can sometimes jump out at me from the rows and attack my feet. The garden is really her big play area don't ya know?




Now that the plants are growing to a good height all the cats will be in there almost 24 hours a day stalking birds and other small critters and lounging in the shade.

I am trying something on this Bindweed infestation just to see if it works. I used the last two sections of metal roofing I had and after removing all the Bindweed and working up the wet ground as well as I could I put a huge portion of Preen on the ground. This is the first time I have ever used any type of chemical in my garden but at least this is a anti-germination chemical that is suppose to be organic. I then mulch the entire area twice as deep as I usually do and am hoping between the mulch and the Preen I can at least control the Bindweed. I read that some people have had luck controlling the bindweed with this method.

We will see I guess.

Now on to other projects. I should have a lot more time available to me now and a list that has only been growing.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!




4 comments:

  1. Looking good, I don't have the bindweed but morning glory(little kudzu as I call it) can pull down mature corn and I use a machete on it last year. My steers love the stuff so I just feed it. I am sure your supervisors are pleased that you cleaned out their giant litter box area and they can now walk easily through the area.

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    1. Sf - The Sheep love to eat em some bindweed too but I had left most of this stuff sit in the sun long enough it was pretty wilted anyway so I just composted it.

      After I get the mulch down I rarely see the cats using the garden as a litter box. They prefer to move to one of the trees with the woodchips after the barn mulch goes down.

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  2. Nice job, unless you've actually weeded a garden, you have no clue as to how hard and time consuming it is.

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    1. Izzy - Exactly. I also like it when I see someone giving out gardening advice then they post on their blog they do all container gardening or maybe have three whole tomato plants. I just have to chuckle. About all you can do.

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