What did you do in your garden today?

flowerbug

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The whole situation started because the then wife okayed removing garden soil to use as fill when we were having the patio built. The county road crew was cleaning ditches and had a dump truck full of dirt a few weeks later. Quick win solution, right? Lol

oh my! :(

it only took me about 15-20 minutes to check the grassy area and remove any new sprouts/leaves that i could find (without glasses so i may have missed some). it was good to me to find out that there were no new large stringy vines found winding through the grass, just wispy things coming up from below so i'm hoping by the end of next summer i'll have it knocked way back. after that it's all spot weeding and making sure no new spots get going well enough to drop seeds.
 

Britesea

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In my experience, it takes 3-4 years of continual work - pulling weeds and smothering the roots with cardboard etc - to starve the root system. You'll still have to watch things carefully, because seeds may still sprout, but you won't have near the problem after that. I still get witch grass and bindweed poking their heads up in the garden, but they are sparse, easy to spot, and easy to pull because the roots are so weak now.
 

Mini Horses

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Yesterday I was at work and the store had some garden things on 90% off clearance! So I bought last 4 rolls of the ground cover stuff. Hey at 50 cents each, felt ok! 3x45' each. I can lay over some fresh till and mulch on top. Even just to walk on! Anything will help this Spring. It was almost free. 😁 I'll check different stores I'm in today, in case they have any.
 

flowerbug

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Yesterday I was at work and the store had some garden things on 90% off clearance! So I bought last 4 rolls of the ground cover stuff. Hey at 50 cents each, felt ok! 3x45' each. I can lay over some fresh till and mulch on top. Even just to walk on! Anything will help this Spring. It was almost free. 😁 I'll check different stores I'm in today, in case they have any.

yes, best used under mulch, but also remember that once it gets grown over it can be hard to remove.
 

flowerbug

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In my experience, it takes 3-4 years of continual work - pulling weeds and smothering the roots with cardboard etc - to starve the root system. You'll still have to watch things carefully, because seeds may still sprout, but you won't have near the problem after that. I still get witch grass and bindweed poking their heads up in the garden, but they are sparse, easy to spot, and easy to pull because the roots are so weak now.

i have spots of nutsedge which is also a fun one to get rid of once an infestation gets going. in some gardens i just keep pulling it out as i find it, but the areas are covered with other things which prevent me from going in and digging it out and trying to remove as much of the root system as possible. in other areas i've been able to go in and dig out the roots too and that speeds up the process of getting rid of it. each time i go through i find less and less.

horsetail is another one that isn't much fun. i've got that making inroads into a tulip garden and just removing the top parts when i find it doesn't work very well, removing the root system goes much better, but i'm not in the mood to rip apart the tulip patch any time soon so i'll muddle along as best i can.
 

Trying2keepitReal

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I just build my gardens and such around what is in the yard/property. I don't get rid of any of the weeds or extras, just move to another spot or plant something that won't be strangled out too much. I found that I have a lot more mounded beds than flat. Also, I have added a few more boxed/raised beds and hope for the best. Whether or not that is the best approach, it saves me a lot of extra time and I still get enough food for the 4 of us.
 

Hinotori

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yes, best used under mulch, but also remember that once it gets grown over it can be hard to remove.

Try impossible sometimes. I had to till through it and then pick out the pieces after the grass grew through from the top over last winter. I've given up on the stuff. It's only good for use under hardscape like when putting in pavers.

Grass really is an unstoppable force here. And it's real grass, not crabgrass. I have old rubber mats I use to kill it.
 

flowerbug

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yesterday managed to get some more of a large garden ready for winter, it's like playing in the mud. more rains last night and today but now we have the rest of this week with no forecast of rains at all so perhaps we can finally get dried out enough that the remaining garden work will go faster. not that it won't get done sometime between now and next spring's planting season but it is nice to have it done before winter so that next spring all i have to do is keep things cleared of weeds.

will be inside reading, shelling beans and making lunch eventually. grilled ham and cheese sounds good today. :)
 

Britesea

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I just build my gardens and such around what is in the yard/property. I don't get rid of any of the weeds or extras, just move to another spot or plant something that won't be strangled out too much. I found that I have a lot more mounded beds than flat. Also, I have added a few more boxed/raised beds and hope for the best. Whether or not that is the best approach, it saves me a lot of extra time and I still get enough food for the 4 of us.

Darwinian Gardening!
 
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