The Lasagna Garden Brigade

Poison ivy was the last thing I expected to be growing in my backyard. I live in a residential neighborhood, not in the woods for pete's sake. But apparently, you can find it anywhere. Got it on Monday and didn't realize what it was until Wednesday. There isn't much of it back there, just one little vine it looks like. Anybody know the best way to get rid of it? It is a nice shady spot and I had planned to put a seating area there.

Thanks dogs n petunias, that's good advice and I will definitely follow it. Don't want to go through this again!

LollyJean,
The birds bring it in. I have to be on the lookout for it in and amongst my flowers. The way I'd get rid of it would be to put on long sleeves and gloves and see if you can clip it off with long-handled loppers. Then carefully and slowly pick it up with a shovel or rake, keeping it far away from your body, and then in a trash bag if you can get it in without shaking it around so it spreads the oil that makes you break out. Don't ever burn it. Then to be doubly safe, do the alcohol wash and shower and launder your clothes and gloves right away. As you can tell, the stuff has me very paranoid. LOL. I've read it can stay on tools and gloves, etc., for a very long time.

In years past I've even gotten it from my little Min. Schnauzer running through brush and then me picking him up and evidently there was enough of the resin or oil substance on his fur that transferred to my arms, at least that seemed to be the only way I could have gotten it because I hadn't been working outside and my forearms got covered with rash. MISERABLE !!!

HI Everyone. Just in from working on the lasagna bed
For the poison ivy once you've already got it, take an allergy medicine like Bendaryl or Claritin (both work for me) to stop the allergic reaction and if you have pain from it take a pain reliever at the same time. I take both when I know for sure I've gotten into it and it helps ease the itching and pain. And yes, you can get it from your pets fur that's how I got the last two cases of it.

Lolly,
You can get weed killer and dig down to the roots of it and put the killer directly on the roots. If you don't it will just come back again. Just do the thing with long sleeves and stuff to protect yourself. Just have to make sure you kill it all out.Wear as much protection as possible when doing it.

Look and see if you area has poison ivy killer available. I think our WM and Lowes carries it.

I think most places that has a gardening center carries it any more .

One of the worst places we had it here on our place was in a bed of old, old irises around a big oak tree. Irises had probably been here 40 years and first thing to bloom each year. That was where my Min. Schnauzer was getting into it. Unfortunately, I was so determined to kill the poison ivy that even being careful [I thought] not to get Round Up PI formula on the irises, after I treated it irises died and never came back- and the poison ivy came back the next year. One of those things on my "I wish I hadn't done that" list.

lasagna garden

Looking good Arejay!!!! What are you going to plant in there?

very nice.... I think I got mine to thick ... its a big mound...maybe I should spread it out some over an adjoining piece of cardboard? But I put it in very thick grassy area.....I dont know if it needs all the weight to kill out the grass..lol dilemma's let it be.. or spread it out a little?

huney - the cardboard alone will kil of the grass and weed underneath. the aim is to make the garden bed even tho, so it it is more mounded looking, rather than raised bed looking, you may want to just do a little adjusting to even out the thickness... you can always add material here and there to make the surface more uniform.

if you arent using an edging, then naturally, the edges of your bed will slope, so dont worry if thats what its doing... but if it looks more like a burial mound... then ya may just want to ad material to build it up evenly...lol

I cant wait to see what you guys fill your beds up with..I know they are going to be beautiful when they are filled with flowers...

.I have several pots of different petunias..They all are starving for fresh soil.. I think I will cut them back and set them over in my lasagna garden and see if I can get one round of flowering out of them..They have been pretty all summer shame not to give them one last chance...

I have a hibiscus I received after a friends funeral.. Maybe I will plant it there...Wonder if it will come back up next year?...We rarely have temps below 32..

I love the way Orioles LB turned out... Just beautiful...

LOL ..Its short and fat...

Well you convinced me after looking at yours that I have enough to spread around and prob make it doubled in size... BUT that means I gotta get up and go get busy....I was thnking more along the means of nap... Is your bed ready to plant? Will you add to it to it deeper before you plant..Guess what im asking is, do you want the soil in the bed to be deep enough to cover the plant roots say of 4 inch pots..Most of my plants are bigger pots..Do you intend to just plant seeds and small rootings there?

Hi Cue thanks for info.. I was thinking you needed enough soil or layers over cardboard to plant in? Am I rushing the planting thing by piling to much in each layer?

nope.... your lasagna bed can be made 24 inches high if you wish.. and its perfectly ok to plant right in it.. i did! overtime, the bed will 'sink' a bit.. almost by half, and the cardboard underneath will breakdown as well.. your plants roots will be able to get thru the cardboard and and root in the ground if they have extensive root systems.. so dont worry about that! You go ahead and plant away sista!

Seray, honey, & arejay- good job on your lasagna beds! you guys rock!

I planted and finished. YEAH!!!!! One down one to go.

Thanks Mechelle. Don't forget Cue. She's so far ahead of us we can't even see her dust. Show us your pics Cue.

That looks awesome Seray! Do you know the cultivars on the Iris? Cue is the big time bomb.. she's been our inspiration and knowledge tree in all of this. Cue, you're an "oak" ;-)

I do know the cultivars Mechelle. All are mixed. I'll have plenty to share in a few years if they like their new home.

Did you put top soil on your bed Seray? Iris are so hardy, they could do without probably. If they can make it, I am going to plant my Iris without top soil too.

I used a mix of coir and worm castings on top. Was a little concerned about drainage and the coir was the same cost.

I'll get pics of the lasagna garden, as well as the Goth bed as soon as i can remember to pic up batteries for the camera!!! ROTFL... me head has so many projects going thru it right now, i tend to forget the little things

Brug tribe meeting tonight. 6 minutes and counting...... LOL

Ya all got me worked up on this...But all I can do is plan, plan,plan..LOL..
I have 24 pcs. of clear fiber glass..I'm going to fastnen a 2 by 4 top & bottom.
Make them 9' by 3' by 18" high..Figure the clear wont make it hot..Can't wait.I have enough grass to mow & always catch it for mulch..Leaves are easy to get all I have to do is drive through town this fall..They are bagged up all over...Just have to ask if its okay..

Like I said on Chit Chat thread you all are quite the bunch..You have had me laughing out loud sitting here alone when DW Shirley is working..Somebody has to work..LOL.
I'm retired..Mostly just tired..LOL

Tubby

Welcome Tubby

This is the place for entertainment that's for sure. What ya planning to plant in those fancy beds when you feel better? Clear fiberglass sounds like a nice way to frame it. Can't wait to see the pictures. Once you show us the pics that's when the entertainment starts you know. We'll take your idea and run with it. :) That's what we did with Cue on these lasagna beds.

I showed this group a old churn with a lotus in it when I first came on here. Everybody dug out old pickle jars, lard crocks, butter churns. Never did see what they planted in them. Just saw the crocks. LOL

This message was edited Sep 5, 2009 8:13 PM

Welcome tubby! Hope you're better real soon, but in the meantime, glad to have you hanging out with us!
Geez, seray, I missed all that, (before my DG time), now I have to dig thru the garage and find that old butter churn and pickle jars. Sheesh! Always something! LOL!

Hi Skellogg

You'll be the first if you show us what you plant in it. LOL

I want an old butter churn that still can be used. We have dairy farms around here and I want to make butter like I did as a kid. I'm going to the flea markets looking, maybe will find one soon.

Nice Seray. Which lotus is that?

It's the Lotus 'Pink Bowl'. A dwarf variety. Do they die down in the winter?

My BIL got some cream from his boss..We took turns churning..It was fun & sure taste good..Will have to do that again..Haven't done that since I was about 10yrs old..I spent summers helping out at BIL parents farm till I was 15yrs old..A learning experience..

Sure is. I grew up on a farm, milking cows and churning butter, we grew cotton-planted, hoed, picked and hated it. Killed our hogs for meat and plucked chickens, occaionally, for sunday dinner. Didn't have a tractor to plow, we used a mule and horse. Got water from a well house and cooked on a wood stove. Heated with a fireplace- cut the trees down with an ax and cut it up in pieces to put in the stove. Them was the good old (hard) days.

My mother churned with one hand and read books with the other as a kid. When she got older she bought a churn in a big glass jar. You turned the handle and it churned the milk. She did it throughout her life when she could get fresh milk. :) All the grandkids helped just like you did. They all know what one looks like now. I still have the old crock churn. Couldn't pay me. LOL

Takes it's toll on ya. Can't type right^ LOL

Well I was rasied in the country but not on a farm but I still can remember MOM and GM churning butter, milking cows and the like. I didn't even know what a Bathroom was in a house until I got married LOL

I'm gonna find one. Just want to do it again and make that butter. I never saw one you turn a handle to do it. The one we had goes up and down and your arm feels like it's falling off before it gets done. But it's worth every bit of pain for that fresh butter. Uum !
I'm going to find someone with the cotton plant again and get seed for old time sake. I can remember picking cotton from morning till night, 30 cents a pound. That was good money. I picked for 2 days and got 10 cents, (AND huge blisters from the sun). I always got sun poisioning and had to wear a big straw hat and long sleeves all summer and pick in the shaded part of the field.

My GM had both kinds of the churns. LOL MOm used the one with the handle that turns and GM used the ols fashion one. MOM couldn't handle that one.

I was a teenager before we had inside plumbing and then it was well water pumped in and cold as alaska in winter. I was married by the time we got a hot water heater.(got married at 16).