bless-my-garden.com » raised beds

what to do about weeds

Penny — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:41:00 +0000

If there is anything we usually have an abundance of it is weeds. But we have found a good solution, carpet. Yes carpet, old used carpet. We cut it in strips as long and as wide as the space between our rows. It keeps moisture, mud off your shoes, and does not let the weeds grow. You can usually get some from the dumpster of anywhere that sells carpet or floor coverings. Always asking first is a good practice. Don’t bother with the pad, it will crumble. If your garden spot has not been prepared by a horse or some other hardworking animal then you can get that carpet and before you cut it up spread out in your soon to be garden. It will block the sun that will be here sooner or later and keep those weeds from germinating. And it is a great way to recycle J.

putting in rows

Penny — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:40:00 +0000

We put careful planning in our rows. Our area is on a slight slope and the rows are deigned to go down hill. We do that for a reason. We shouldn’t have to water a garden around here but with the last couple years being a drought we have learned to improvise. Another reason we chose the spot we did is that there is a nice creek right beside it. That is another reason that the rows have a trench down the middle. We have a small submersible pump, ( $60 at your local hardware store ) that we use about 200 feet of extension cord with and drop it in the shallow creek, plug OUT of the water, with a huge rock keeping it that way. The pump connects to about 200 feet of garden hose whose end is placed at the top of a row. Since it is going up hill it moves slow and slowly drenches the row, taking it’s sweet ole time for a good soak. The pump will not last forever using this way but we can get 2-3 seasons out of it. Worth it for us and better than toting buckets.

a time to plant

Penny — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:39:00 +0000

When we first started our garden spot is was really bad soil. But it was a good spot. I figured it was easier to improve the soil than to move the sun or the hill so that is what we have been working n for 4 years. It is now really good. But we still do things the way we used to. For the most part we use the Ford 4000 tractor to turn the soil a bit and put in rows. All we have is a box blade so this requires a little ingenuity but it works. Then we use all of that lovely compost to put on top of each row. We do wide rows with a shallow trench down the middle.