Posted on 03/22/2020 6:34:31 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
When I lived in Tokyo, they had a 5th season. The monsoon seaon.
Short spring, a month of rain and boom right to muggy heat and humidity.
Hi, gardening experts! I just added about 7-8 new roses to an overgrown “wild” (ignored for 3 years) rose garden. I added fertilizer to the old roses too. Everything pruned and ready. (Socal).
My question for you all is, without herbicides or hard work (weeding), how can I make the ground outside the plants look decent? Is there something to put over it, some mulch that doesn’t allow weeds, or any shortcuts for the lazy yet organic??? Thanks.
I’m still getting my starter pots made and filled. I have 3 trays filled with pots made from cardboard TP tubes. Now I’m taking apart the spare seed catalogs and folding the pages into boxes for starter pots.
This year it seems like every seed company sent me 3-4 catalogs each, so I have lots of material to use!
I ran out of my seed starting mix after the first tray, so I need to see what I have. I don’t like the pre-made mixes, and I don’t want to run to the store for stuff. All my ingredients have gotten moved around though, so we’ll see what I can find.
My chickens are doing a good job of keeping us in eggs. And when I let them loose in the yard, they patrol the garden for grubs right away. I haven’t seen a Japanese Beetle for 2 years now thanks to them!
Dad has spent the whole winter tinkering with my tractor. The tiller attachment now has a reverse lever. The theory is that I can use it to spit out the rocks that get caught, instead of having to reach in with a hammer. In previous years I have spent more time dislodging rocks than I actually spent tilling. hopefully this will make the job go faster and more smoothly. I’ve also ordered 6 rolls of super-heavy-duty landscape fabric, 4x250 each. It won’t cover my entire field, but it should help some. I’m hoping it will at least be enough for my cash crops, since the weed pressure is a huge factor in past crop failures.
This year I’m even more determined to camp out on my land all summer. I think it’s going to be a matter of survival this time.
Its still cold here in IL, but I filled a planter box with soil 2 weeks ago and planted kohlrabi and radishes, which can take the cold. Radishes were up yesterday.
It was another wet week here in Central Missouri. Yesterday was nice, but this morning we got some snow. lol
Everybody around here is pretty much hunkered down due to the COVID19 panic. The first COVID-related death in the state happened last week at our hospital, but there are currently no COVID patients admitted. There are at least two at the VA hospital where Mrs. Augie works.
#1 Marine Daughter had class week before last with a kid who has tested positive, and yesterday we heard from the school that five more had tested positive. Daughter is feeling a little icky and will be getting tested tomorrow. So... wife and I are presumed to be exposed and are taking proper precautions. I went to my office yesterday and picked up two laptop computers and a couple big monitors. I can do all of my work from home aside from laying hands on gear in the data center. We gave the grouch cave a good cleaning yesterday, and I spent the morning getting my stuff set up and connected to the wifi here.
Looking forward to some sunshine and warm weather. Couple more weeks and it will be time to hit the woods looking for morels. There’s plenty of moisture in the ground for sure. If the temps cooperate it’s setting up to be one those bumper crop years, and now that I have a proper river boat I can get to some spots that were previously impractical to reach due to the distance from a parking spot.
Lay down cardboard or thick layers of newspapers (B&W pages only) all around the rosebushes and then cover with mulch.
That’ll take care of a good part of the weeding. Leave some room around the base of the roses so they can get rain or watering.
You could control the remaining weeds with an organic weed killer such as Bonide ‘Burn Out’ or a pre emergent like Preen.
We have had a lot of rain and cold temps interspersed with nice weather. Peach tree is budding, but may have been zapped.
We received another part of our shipment from Baker's Creek.
Boysenberries and ginger which we put into pots. Hubby's tomato starts are more than ready for transplanting-I think he's going to have to put them in larger pots, since the weather is not cooperating.
April first is the first day to plant taters here—boy will I be glad to see that-hubby has potatoes blocking the path to 3 shelves in the pantry. Mostly it's green beans, and pickles, and recent canning stuff- but then there's the Toilet Paper-and we may need to get to that. LOL
I have almost finished the reorganization of the bathroom and utility closet. All that is left is the under sink and cabinet above the porcelain throne. Then it's on to the out of season clothes and linen closet.
Hope everyone is doing well. Have a great weekend, and God Bless.
Rain just wont stop here in mid-Missouri.
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Ditto over here in Missouri. We have mounds of red clay waiting for the right weather to put in the forms and footing for the basement/root cellar under the to be constructed storage building.
“Now I’m taking apart the spare seed catalogs and folding the pages into boxes for starter pots.”
You are so bloody smart! I have some that I’m passing on to my Library (they keep a bin of ‘FREE SEED CATALOGS’) and I have the others tied up and ready for recycling, but I love your idea!
I find making paper pots and fire starters to be such a ‘Zen Thang.’ ;) Actually, I like ANY activity that gives something that was heading for the trash/recycling, a second life. :)
When I lived south of San Diego, we had ONE season - but you’d never know it by the people bundled up in warm coats, hats, mittens and scarves when the temps went below 60, LOL!
I was still in shorts and flip-flops!
I lived there for two years and it rained ONCE. On Christmas Eve Day. And I was so delighted (and SO homesick for Wisconsin) that I went to the beach and stood out in it until ‘Officer Friendly’ told me to go home. ;)
P.S. I’m NOT parting with my Baker Creek catalog! :)
I hate those squirrels! They are trying to dig up my new floral plantings! I use dried blood to deter their activities around my garden pots. It needs to be refreshed every three or four weeks.
White Princess Peach from davesgarden
Hardiness:
Sun Exposure:
Full Sun
Bloom Color:
Pink
Bloom Time:
Mid Spring
leaf compost
I was tempted to buy the Big Catalog for $9.00
Get’s rave reviews.
I’ve been wanting to try soil blocks and have Eliot Coleman videos about them saved on my HDD.
Thanks very much !
We’ve had some medical issues with wife this past week.
All is clear as of today.
The first pix is tomatoes. Second is peppers.
We will begin transplanting from the community tub into individual pots this week.
My asperagus is complaining...
Plant me. Plant me !
Potting Soil & Soil Blocks by Eliot Coleman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA_OFzEDXFY (starts after Bulbs with Barbara)
He uses gadgets from johnnyseeds to make the soils blocks but there’s tons of youtube vids on how to make your own gadget. Will only do one at a time unlike the purchased gadgets but it’s still fast.
The Baker Creek catalogs are ‘Garden Porn,’ as Beau calls them. He knows to hand over the credit card whenever they arrive. ;)
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