Fighting Weeds

Fighting weeds and wild onions

This weekend was spent, in part, fighting weeds. A number of weeds including the dreaded wild onion have popped up in the front beds. Last year I thought I’d made some headway by digging up many onions and removing them. However they have a very persistent survival technique. When you remove the bulb it leaves many tiny mini-bulbs behind, each of which turns into a new onion plant. Where there were three there are now a dozen.

This year’s strategy is to smother them. I wacked them off with the weed eater and covered them with many layers of newspaper. I covered that with some excellent organic compost. My fingers are crossed and I am hoping that they will not find a way through the paper and will be smothered and die. At the same time I smothered many other weeds that were growing up with the onions. Will let you know later how this works. The nice thing is that it does not require any poison. It is a totally organic approach.

Getting the garden boxes ready

I pulled up the remaining cover crop of red clover from the vegetable garden boxes today as well. I added a bit of sand and some more organic compost. There is rain forecast for the next week. I am hoping that by next weekend I can rake it all out well and start planting!

I failed to take photos today so you will have to use your mind’s eye to imagine weedy beds now all covered with rich black compost. It looks great.

We had showers throughout the day. I worked mostly in between them but for much of the compost hauling and spreading I had to work with the rain. Thankfully I did not melt.

Happy Gardening,

Dan Murphy

 

Spring Chores

Spring weather has finally sprung upon us in the Willamette Valley. After weeks of cold and rain the sun is out. Today it will rise into the mid-60s F. and by Thursday it is predicted to hit the 80s F.

I spent a fair amount of time this weekend pulling the ten billion weeds that have thrived from all that rain, my inattention and now sun. My main compost bin is almost full of some old raked up maple leaves and about five wheel barrows of green weeds. I layered all that in hopes of some fine compost.

Cover Crop

I planted red clover in all the vegetable garden boxes last fall and it grew well. I am now removing it to the composts bin to get the beds ready to plant. I was going to put peas in earlier but the steady down pours discouraged that. They may well have grown but standing in a down pour planting peas in the muddy soil seemed undesirable to me for some reason. The photos on this page show the boxes with some of the clover removed and some yet to be pulled out.

I have some compost and a bit of sand to amend the boxes next weekend. Then they will be ready to plant.

Wild Onions

I continue to lose the war with the wild onions in the flower beds. Last year I removed so many of them by digging them out that I thought perhaps I’d made some head way. They’ve come back with a vengeance this spring. My strategy this year, at least for many of them, will be to whack them off with the weed eater, cover them with newspaper and then compost in hopes of smothering them. We shall see how that goes.

When to Plant

Every spring I go back and forth as to when it is best to plant what. I have learned that the calendar is near useless. It is the weather and the weather alone that determines when to plant. If warm weather is here to stay awhile, and I suspect it is, then planting will come soon. I will leave tomatoes to later, probably in mid-May to put in. I hope to have a good crop of veggies this year.

If you a gardener I wish you the best this spring in weeding and planting. The cycle continues.

Happy Gardening,

Dan Murphy

 

Low Maintenance Gardening

No, I do not really have a low maintenance garden, though I do try to reduce maintenance in certain areas. It is possible however to design a relatively low maintenance garden.

Here are few ideas I have used:

• Cover unplanted areas with bark dust or compost – it will reduce weed growth.
• Use plants that do not require much watering or much pruning.
• Consider native plants which often grow with no maintenance at all.
• Plant in areas of your garden where conditions are best for your plants. Keep in mind needs for moisture and sunlight.
• Plant perennials liberally. Most of them will last a long time.
• Avoid plants that by their nature require frequent maintenance. You can look plants up on the internet before you consider getting them to find out what their maintenance needs are.

Of course, sometimes you will really want a plant because of how it looks or what it provides in fruit and the maintenance will be worth it. It is a trade-off you must plan on in advance.

No garden can be maintenance free unless you cover it all in concrete and plant it green. (not recommended).

Happy Gardening,

Dan Murphy