Snow White's Cottage Garden in Mogadore, OH

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Banana Melons in the weed jungle of 2011. Yeah. Worst weed year EVER! I call it the Rain monsoon of 2011.<br>
  Magnify

Watching the red rise!

By: UnusualFarmChick
Mar 11, 2012
Sunny clear skies and around 60! We are to stay this way for at least the next week, possibly longer. JOY JOY! The Captain & I have decided to chip up all the apple tree trimmings & the ones we will cut from removing the no longer fruitful & now dying 2 a back apple trees. The chips will be mulch for the garden on top of the leaf mulch from last fall.
For planting & seeding in rows, we will wipe to the side a few inch wide trail to show ground for their placing.
 I will not be conquered by weeds this year. I refuse to be defeated again.
                                                   Spartaaaa!
Just to share how bad it got from the intense rains either falling or not allowing the ground to dry out even a little to get outside for weeding & tending I am sharing the Fail of 2011. The choice of black cloth was a mistake, grabbing one for use under mulch. He thought it would work because "it's black & it says weed blocker"... sigh. In the pic is banana melons & the single sunflower that grew. Notice all the grass? 2 months of solid rain at least every other day switching from intense to medium. I'm surprised the garden was even still there and not swept away. Being organic meant pulling everything by hand, by myself in a 25X 60 plot. When I could actually get out there, weeds & grass were already settled in, making it VERY hard to clear out. Eventually, I just gave up and let it go. Some things still cropped but others could not win the fight.
 My husband thinks I may be on the verge of insanity from that garden year. He says I have "issues" from it... Poor guy. Fell in love with a gardener...and has not a clue why most of these things matter so much.
Entry 1 of 4
RoriTx replied over 1 year ago
I'm going to try newspaper/cardboard covered in shredded leaves this year down my walk ways. The leaves more for aesthetic reasons (I don't want to see all the paper) plus they'll break down. I've always used hay on my beds but if the layer isn't thick enough then I end up fighting "hay sprouts". If the newspaper supply lasts I may try putting some under the hay around the larger plants.
UnusualFarmChick replied over 1 year ago
@RoriTx: Hay & Straw around here runs about $5 a bale, dropping only $1 when you buy more then 50. My garden is 25X60, making it a bit expensive for its use here. There were about 20 bales at the mom & pop garden center just a few months back marked $1 a bale from getting wet- normally I just buy from the farmers but this caught my interest. By the time I got back up there with the truck, they were gone. : (   I observed a friends garden whom used the black plastic and it had mold and stench on the ground underneath it. I knew I would never use it after seeing that.  I have begged the Accountant {my husband whom I also call the Captain}, to fit a few of those dutch stirrup hoes in the budget  this year. I have heard rave reviews about their use. I think I will toss the idea around a bit about the cardboard/paper with mulch items on top. My garden does not contain raised beds or such. Other then the white picket fence & richer soil, it is wide open ground like it was in 2010. I have a "Big Marge" sized rototiller so I have to keep everything open. lol. Thanks for sharing your method contemplations for this year.I always enjoy hearing what others are doing. it not only inspires but encourages & fuels ideas.
Clenram replied over 1 year ago
My front garden started with one box then two...four and now it is one big box.  About the first of August I got so frustrated with bugs and days of over 100F ...the plants looked awful.  I pulled everything up and did not plant anything until the temps went down.  I should have written the date, but I think it was late September before I planted.  It was a mistake. Everything grew great but so did the grass.  I ended up sitting and pulling.  I did squares at a time.  I finally got it all,  But now I don't want to see bare soil again!  I planted lettuce in-between everyth....   It is pretty but now I need to fit in my spring plants.  
UnusualFarmChick replied over 1 year ago
@Clenram:I feel the pain! Gardening is a constant struggle yet we keep coming back for more. lol. Glutton for misery some would say but I call it determination & no acceptations of failure. Knock on wood, I have not had much of an issue with bugs/pests. Some, yes but not a huge issue thankfully. I plant so many herbs in there, I think I confuse most of them. My biggest pest issue is ANTS! I've tried the cinnamon, the D.E, those not all organic green spikes they crawl into & leave with poison for their colony {that was when I had come to the end of my rope and the little bits on my feet ,hands & children became a call of war. We could not even weed without being attacked.So I guess my battle cry for this year is against weeds & Ants. lol

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