~ BloodRed NLI ~  Wrote:

Enaid nli  Wrote:

Once I get the soil ready for the season - I easily take care of the weeds with a stirrup (sp?) hoe.

I also let the ready soil - sit a few weeks. I water it - if needed to encourage weed seeds to sprout. Then I knock em back with my hoe.

~ HI. I'm Enaid's hoe. LOL... sorry, sorry, jk, had to... I spent ALLLLLL day (JUST got in NOW, was out there at 7:30 am, to beat the sun and skeeters)... WEEDING. Soil amending. Turning compost.

~ Tomorrow's the day I plunk in some goodies... hoping the soak-down we'll get tonight will be enough to take out/away SOME of the fresh soil 'heat'.

~ WAS going to make a LONNNNNNNGGG thread today, about my time away, but to be Honest, I can barely type lol... on top of that: have any of y'all ever gotten a 'trowel blister'...?? A frikkin' TROWEL blister?!?!?! LOL... Owwie, owwie. Ow. Ow.

~ =P

Ouch!
Well, let me warn you - getting old sucks.

I couldn't garden for 2 years - because of physical probs/surgeries. etc.
Of course - none of the men in the house kept the gardens up.

So I have 2 years of weed matt to remove. I only garden an hour every day - to prevent my old bones from aching.

Trying to teach my 10 month old pup not to eat the flowers in the back yard. lol So, I got nasty tasting marigolds. - it worked. But he still stomps on them.

Umm , no you dont. The hardest part of my gardening is picking all the vegetables and thats not hard, its fun.

72 plants - red tomatos - brown tomatos - peppers- pole beans- swisschard - collards - asparagus . No weeding and it only takes me 25 seconds to water all 72 plants right to their root system.

I feel sorry for those who garden the old way.

LoP Guest  Wrote:

Umm , no you dont. The hardest part of my gardening is picking all the vegetables and thats not hard, its fun.

72 plants - red tomatos - brown tomatos - peppers- pole beans- swisschard - collards - asparagus . No weeding and it only takes me 25 seconds to water all 72 plants right to their root system.

I feel sorry for those who garden the old way.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/grq/2995021268.html

hardwork is over.

LoP Guest  Wrote:

LoP Guest  Wrote:

Umm , no you dont. The hardest part of my gardening is picking all the vegetables and thats not hard, its fun.

72 plants - red tomatos - brown tomatos - peppers- pole beans- swisschard - collards - asparagus . No weeding and it only takes me 25 seconds to water all 72 plants right to their root system.

I feel sorry for those who garden the old way.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/grq/2995021268.html

hardwork is over.

You've posted that picture before on gardening threads. Please explain what we're seeing there.

LoP Guest  Wrote:

Umm , no you dont. The hardest part of my gardening is picking all the vegetables and thats not hard, its fun.

72 plants - red tomatos - brown tomatos - peppers- pole beans- swisschard - collards - asparagus . No weeding and it only takes me 25 seconds to water all 72 plants right to their root system.

I feel sorry for those who garden the old way.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/grq/2995021268.html

hardwork is over.

LoP Guest  Wrote:

LoP Guest  Wrote:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/grq/2995021268.html

hardwork is over.

You've posted that picture before on gardening threads. Please explain what we're seeing there.

Its my 4 year project to create a new way to garden with as less work as possible while achieving bountiful harvests in a minimal space.

6 raised beds - 12ft long each - 6 plots in 2 rows for each bed = 12 plots total = 72 plots for plants.

white fiberglass sheeting to prevent any weeds from growing , while allowing water seepage .

gravity feed water system from a 280 gallon water tank on my backyard porch. All water is pumped from my basement sump pump and is pure groundwater { no chlorine, no fluroide, etc} . Pump is solar powered.

Each bed has a 12ft long pvc pipe with 6 holes drilled on each side { 12 holes total} and a plastic tube coming off each hole that goes to the root system of each plant.

Can water 72 plants in about 25 seconds just by turing the valve on the water tank. The water goes right to the root systems ans isnt wasted on the leaves.

Four years of planning, and the rewards are astounding. Basically I have a carefree garden.

LoP Guest  Wrote:

LoP Guest  Wrote:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/grq/2995021268.html

hardwork is over.

You've posted that picture before on gardening threads. Please explain what we're seeing there.

Its my 4 year project to create a new way to garden with as less work as possible while achieving bountiful harvests in a minimal space.

6 raised beds - 12ft long each - 6 plots in 2 rows for each bed = 12 plots total = 72 plots for plants.

white fiberglass sheeting to prevent any weeds from growing , while allowing water seepage .

gravity feed water system from a 280 gallon water tank on my backyard porch. All water is pumped from my basement sump pump and is pure groundwater { no chlorine, no fluroide, etc} . Pump is solar powered.

Each bed has a 12ft long pvc pipe with 6 holes drilled on each side { 12 holes total} and a plastic tube coming off each hole that goes to the root system of each plant.

Can water 72 plants in about 25 seconds just by turing the valve on the water tank. The water goes right to the root systems ans isnt wasted on the leaves.

Four years of planning, and the rewards are astounding. Basically I have a carefree garden.

Malu  Wrote:

Enaid nli  Wrote:

Once I get the soil ready for the season - I easily take care of the weeds with a stirrup (sp?) hoe.

I also let the ready soil - sit a few weeks. I water it - if needed to encourage weed seeds to sprout. Then I knock em back with my hoe.

nuthin like knocking around a hoe

those do work pretty slick, i've had every type a hoe you could imagine

The famous MALU! Ever get that fifty?

Guys, WEED YOUR GARDEN ! I have had neighbors stop and say "gee, your garden looks so good but I can't get anything to grow - can you come look at it?"
Almost every time the supposed garden was over run with weeds and when I pointed this out I got almost the same response "you mean I have to pull all of those weeds ?"

keep in mind, the farmers opponent are :
1. Weather
2. Weeds
3. Insects

The weather you can't do a whole lot about, the weeds, well if you keep your garden weeded, you will eliminate about 90% of your insect problem.

Here is a tip: Put several of those solar powered garden lights in your garden. They will attract bugs at night, which in turn attracts good predators like spiders, lizards, preying mantis ect .... that will hang out in the garden for a good meal.

Grendelmort  Wrote:

Guys, WEED YOUR GARDEN ! I have had neighbors stop and say "gee, your garden looks so good but I can't get anything to grow - can you come look at it?"
Almost every time the supposed garden was over run with weeds and when I pointed this out I got almost the same response "you mean I have to pull all of those weeds ?"

keep in mind, the farmers opponent are :
1. Weather
2. Weeds
3. Insects

The weather you can't do a whole lot about, the weeds, well if you keep your garden weeded, you will eliminate about 90% of your insect problem.

Here is a tip: Put several of those solar powered garden lights in your garden. They will attract bugs at night, which in turn attracts good predators like spiders, lizards, preying mantis ect .... that will hang out in the garden for a good meal.

i've noticed that certain weeds are good to keep and manage in order to stave off the grass from growing... i like dandelions cause i harvest them anyway... clovers is beneficial and something about them keeps the grass back... creeping charlies are great, just remember to hack em back every so often and pull them up when the flowers start before they go to seed.... spreading cilantro, dill and parsley seeds all over hell and creation helps too, and they start early to keep the grass at bay and i have fresh herbs before others have even planted

Paying attention to weeds in your yard/garden can tell you a lot about your soil.


If you notice a particular portion of your yard/garden where a certain "weed" thrives it can tell you a few things. It can give you a very close approximation of the ph of your soil in that area. Study the weed out and its soil preferences, then plant a "crop" in that area that likes a very similar soil composition.

You can learn alot from a weed. Here is a bit of a primer I just ran across typing out this post.

http://homestead.org/DianaBarker/Looktot...cators.htm


Homework question. What is one common herb that does really well in poor depleted soil?

When it comes to the plant kingdom it's the strangest thing. They don't have feet and the don't walk, but everything seems to end up right where they really prefer to be.

Why are cattails at the waters edge? Why does the black ash live in the swamp? How does that fern always find that cool moist shady spot? Why is that patch of dandelions growing real thick in that certain spot of your yard?