Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Any hardcore Gardners here??

Here's my garden guys and gals.. I've run into a little dilemma.. It consist of 20 25x3 raised beds.. And all the walkways are strawed.. The problem is I put down weedmat to control weeds, plain and simple it ain't working, weeds are growing underneath.. Anyone got suggestions. I'm thinkingon the beds that ain't planted peel up the weedmat spray roundup wait a couple days rinse recover and plant. Second option straw te whole damn garden on top of the weedmat.. What do you guys think.. I'm trying to go all organic but I'm having second thoughts.. I've read if you combat the weeds really hard they deminish to barely any year after year.. Anyways here's some pics..

Bluegiller....maybe a product called Preen?It's supposed to be safe for veggies. My brother has used it. It used to be very expensive, but prices have come down. I do believe it's a corn based hebicide.

Just a dumb question. Is the area you are planting a new bed this year or an old plot? I have thought very seriously about picking a spot, and continually tilling through a summer or two, and letting the weed seeds germinate, only to til under, and let sprout again. It's truly amazing how many weed seeds are in the soil.

LOL just had a funny thought. How about a Hoe? The kind you find at the hardware store, and not your local nightclub?

The point is to make it as maintenance free as possible (I've got a hoe ).. I seen that preen at a local store.. This is a new bed.. I tilled in about 20 dump loads of composted horse manure that's where my weeds are coming from. Some kind of viney type plant..

Are there little white flowers on the viney plant?

Preen is a pre-emergent, so don't use it on any beds where you will be starting veggies from seed.

Lots of weed seeds in horse/cow poop!! Some of the weed matting is designed to be used under mulch. Other types are designed to be exposed. I'm guessing that it's letting light thru, and is the type of weed block that is supposed to be used under mulch.

Aquaponics! No weeds, no bending over, no herbicides!

I'm not sure if it flowers.. Kind of has a purplish/red stem star shaped set of leaves.. I think your right esshup it's suppose to be buried, I didn't wanna go with solid black because of heat reasons in the dead of summer.. And it don't let moisture through as well..

I use to have a big garden I plowed and disk. A lot of work. Now I buy at the farmers market and eat healthy. Preen is pretty good stuff but you need to let your plants get a little size on them before you preen. Someday you will probably buy plants that will tolerate Roundup like our corn and soybeans are now where you plant and spray Roundup and never have a weed problem.

I could of got round up ready sweet corn but the goal was no man made herbicides or fertilizers. I think once I get the garden established a few years the weeds will be less and less over time. Just not gonna be as easy as I was hoping lol

I built some 4ft x 8ft beds out of landscape timbers as a trial. I put down cardboard, then 1" of coarse sand, then filled it in with 1/3 leaf compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 top soil. No weeds for the first year and very minimal for the second year. Seems the few weeds I did get were distributed by wind. I am sure that the earthworms took care of the cardboard by now.

Probably won't do too much of a garden this year. A couple big trees need to come out first. Then I'll do a total rebuild with larger raised beds.

This is my seventh year of doing the organic garden thing, rabbit poop and alfalfa are your best friends. Rabbit poop =little or no weeds, slow release and its free. I gave up on weedmat years ago, a master gardener sold me on the idea of using alfalfa for weed control, moisture retention and beneficial nutrients at the end of the season, just till it in and let it work.
We also use free used carpet for weed control in between rows and walk ways, last for years, just roll it up and store it for the winter. Carpet stores beg people to come and get it, saves them money on land fill charges.
As for weeding, I spread the word to my friends that if they do the weeding, I'll take care of everything else and we all share the harvest….everyone's happy.

No rabbits close to here, endless composted horse manure across the street though.. My walkways seem to be doing fine with just the straw.. I don't plan to till anymore, from what I've read deep tilling is actually bad for you soil, so I just plan on flipping the soil in the beds at the end of each year.. I'm gonna try and cover all the weedmat with straw and seem if the extra weight and lack of light kills the weeds under the weedmat.. If that don't work back to the drawing board..

We "garden" a bit (see photo below). Acutally, we have market gardened for over 20 years. We use high intensity methods on a couple acres of our 73 acre farm which lets us use the rest for recreation and wildlife habitat (and pays for improvements like a pond, 2 duck ponds, and 3 wetlands, as well as thousads of trees and two prairies. The cover crop to the right of the picture is oilseed (daikon) radish which suppresses weed growth. We let it go to seed, and disk it for a second crop, and then fall plow to get ready for next year. We are not organic (we're presbyrterian), but rather use the best and most ecological practices. No manure on food crops at our place. Putting down the plastic early allows weeds to emerge and die before we poke holes for the plants. Drip irrigation and fertilizer allow for maximum yields so we can produce as much as we can handle (4 of us) in a small area, leaving the rest for play.

No expert, but my experience has been that tillers create lots of weed problems after the initial bed creation. Having said that, yes I have a 30 year old Troy Built that runs like a champ, and is still used quite often.

My approach for raised beds is a garden broadfork to loosen the soil prior to Spring planting, and keep earthworms happy and weed seeds buried. A Hori-Hori for hand digging, and a push pull weeder for emergent weeds.

I can't verify this, but I've been told horse manure has high seed content since there is less digestive time than with cow manure. But gardeners around here don't generally use uncomposted horse manure in their gardens. Maybe somebody else can comment on this.

Weeds are going to grow, but I try to get them early before they head out and repopulate. The 3 tools above make that easier for me.

Hope this helps.

Yeah I prolly should of went with plastic, since I installed drip irrigation aswell but just to supplement mother nature, I thought the fiber weedmat would let the rain through and kill the weeds.. I have a man near by that has the machine like you to put the plastic down. He does I'd say 10-15 acres like that for market.. Seems like alot of wasted space in between rows when using that? I wanted to maximize my 50x50 area, I also grew almost everything from seed under lights in my basement started in January and February (except plants not recommended for transplant)..

Horse manure is high in seeds.. That's why they say compost it for a 6 month minimum a year is better.. It gets so hot it kills most seeds then turn and repeat the process.. I need it to amend my soil it was Rick solid clay before I added it now it's like crumbly black soil I've never tested it but we'll see if it's fertile if anything grows.. The thing with the leftover seeds in the manure I figured wouldn't be a problem since my plan all along was to cover with weedmat..

Gardening is a huge learning curve! In a few years you'll have a much easier time.

Weeds are my biggest problem. I don't spend enough time in the garden keeping them under control, so I gave up on having a garden until I have more spare time.

If weeds get in your rows use card board and cover it with straw. Mulch will hold in moisture so you will water less. Keep light from the soil so weeds don't germinate. And if they do they will be easier to pull out.

http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=398

Please be aware that using non-composted manure on food crops is dangerous to your health!

Where do you get the straw. I have seen someone spread straw in the garden and it was loaded with weeds after because weed seeds were in the straw.

Since I have drip tape irrigation I can't layer much on top of it.. And I already have it placed under the weedmat which next year I might change that.

Some drip irrigation can actually be place below soil level. I keep mine on top of the soil but under the plastic for easy pickup in fall.

RAH, if you were to run drip irrigation in an orchard, where there was areas bewteen the trees that needed mowing, what would you use for irrigation?

I'm in sandy soil, and it's looking to be a dry year. I have emitters and most of the stuff needed for a drip system, but I'm not sure what type of system install would be best. It's a rather small orchard, between 25 and 30 trees.

Strongly advise reconsidering using Roundup on your beds - residual could hurt your veges later and also could pose a health risk to anyone consuming produce. Roundup instructions advise not to plant in areas of application for 1 year. You don't want to eat that stuff BG!

I use heavy applications of shredded leaves in the fall for my beds and it prevents any weeds from emerging until I'm ready to plant. After I plant I apply grass clippings around my plantings throughout the year and have not had to pull a weed in years using this method. I use 12" water stakes with a 2 liter bottle screwed on top for irrigation as the thick mulch won't allow for irrigation any other way efficiently. The water stakes are great, water very deeply and encourage deep root growth. Also allow for liquid fertilizer application easily [kelp and fish emulsion combo] throughout the year. I typically plant 10 cultivars [2 each] of tomatoes and 25 cultivars of peppers [3-4 each] plus cilantro and white onions. 100% organic and loving it!