Weeds in the garden

Does anyone else here leave their weeds in the garden to provide shade during the summer? Then later on , pull them out & use them for compost? My neighbors garden is perfect. Not one weed & everything is sterile. The soil is like powder. How can his garden grow without clumps of straw, dead grass, & compost scattered around? His plants are nice & green, but I can't tell or see if he has any fruit growing.

I have a weed free garden and organic!!! After my plants had recovered from the initial shock of transplant I mulch them with compost. We compost everything to use for the garden both flowers and veggie. I think the thickness of my mulch is at least 4-6 inches.

Belle

I don't like the weeds because they steal nutrients and water from the plants I'm trying to grow--too many weeds can outcompete the desirable plants. I do try to mulch where I can.

I agree with belleig and dreaves here - the weeds have gotta go. Not only do the weeds steal nutrients as dreaves mentioned but they can harbor pest insects. On the flip side they can also attract good insects, but the bad can outweigh the good.

I don't have a weed in my garden. First thing I do every morning is check and pull any thing up that isn't supposed to be there. My garden is fruiting like crazy. By the week-end I'll be trying to find someone to take squash off my hands. A problem I dearly love. It is funny how every body likes me when my garden is producing.

Jim, Billy will be right down... He wants to pick our little ones and I have to keep reminding him that they are not ready, he is bummed...

The drawback with letting the weeds go for very long is that they'll seed & then it really gets to be work to contain them. I have one such bed now, consequence of indolence last fall.

I don't have weeds, either. As I walk through the garden, I pull the newly sprouted weeds before they get out of hand. I just toss them into the walkway where they break down with the leaves that are already there. Earthworms turn everything into wonderful castings, some critter comes along at night and eats the earthworms.

The circle of life continues :)

Made a start on the squash today. Picked four zukes and a dozen or more yellow squash. Grappled a pile of potatoes and shared with several people. Nothing like fresh produce. Anciously waiting for cukes and the first ripe tomato.

MissJestr wrote;" He wants to pick our little ones and I have to keep reminding him that they are not ready, "

But, Billy is obviously a gourmet!! Baby veggies are very popular at thefinet restaurants:). And, picking them young will encourage more fruit, so please, let him have a few? Plee-ease (that's whining)???
Seriously, I usually have at least a couple of meals per season that include stuffed squash blossoms, and tiny squashes:)

Catmad, I so would like to have the recipie for the stuffed squash blossoms..we went out yesterday to pull weeds, and he was so happy to see his little ones growing, He stood in his garden and said It was his garden all his and he was happy to have one... So I am thinking on Saturday after the Gymkana, we will pick them for our BBQ and well I know they wont make it to the house, but he will be happy...

This year, I started a raised bed garden over an area previously covered by grass. I used round-up to kill all the grass & it all brown & dead by the time I built the raised bed. I then paced about 1" of old newspaper & filled the box with Mel's mix. However, after about 2 months, grass started showing up in the beds. These were definitely growing up from the bottom since I could trace the roots all the way down. I removed these by trying to get as much as possible of the root out, but they're still growing & I'm getting more & more. The bed is heavily mulched, but it doesn't seem to help. Does anyone have any ideas?
Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann - if you have Burmuda Grass, you have a real fight on your hands. The only way I got rid of mine was to hand dig, and remove EVERY trace of the root system.

After four years, the darn stuff still shows up in odd spots around the garden!

MissJestr, you can find some "real" recipes here,
http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805b.htm

I tend to kind of wing it. I wash the blossoms, and fill with pretty much whatever soft cheese I have, either goat or cream cheese, mixed with herbs that strike my fancy *G*. I've used ricotta mixed with eggs and parsley, and even grated cheddar or swiss. I just close the flower after filling it, and saute in butter/olive oil. I've battered them for company, but it's more work that I think it's worth. That may be because I hate to fry anything in batter. I have very much enjoyed them when someone else made them...

i only have two blossoms so far, and I think eating them would be delightful but all that trouble for one or two blossoms seems weird. Maybe someday I will plant an army of squash plants and I can have lots of blossoms to eat.

I pick all the weeds I see, but I also just planted a bunch of lettuce and basil seeds so I am not sure which sprouts are weeds and which ones are lettuce or basil. So I am waiting until I can spot a difference. Hopefully that won't be too late!

I've been laying down large pieces of cardboard from pkgs that we've received to discourage weeds in my garden. I also put some large composted tree bark over the cardboard. Where I have the cardboard it's helped. However, I still have open spaces and the weeds find their way there.

I need to get out in the garden with my small, electric [Mantis] rototiller and get the rest of them. I just can't bend over to do all the weeding - it kills my back, plus we are HOT & HUMID right now in N. Texas...which is a real energy zapper. Have to make sure to take some 'coconut water' with me for hydration -- otherwise I can hardly do ANYTHING outside.

i have a tiny garden, there's no room for weeds!

I built 2 new beds last fall, Jo-Ann, and did them the same as you. I spayed twice with round up. I used the news paper the same as you. I haven't had much trouble with bermuda grass except at the very edge but I have coco nut grass that keeps peeping through. I just keep pulling it and once the bed is shaded it usually quits coming up that year. There's got to be some work involved in gardening or everyone would be doing it.

Jim, Thanks for your words of encouragement about these darn weeds. Right now, the bed is full of corn & is as shaded as can be. I can reach the grasses growing on the edges, but I can see some in the middle that are harder to get to. I'll pull what I can & when the corn's finished in a month or so, I'll round-up the remainder of them. I guess it will be a battle for a couple of years until I get them all.
Jo-Ann

Good luck with the weeds and grass. It is just a part of gardening, I guess.

I have a Joanne at home, a little different spelling. She is a gardener as well, except she prefers flowers. I am the veggie man. Actually she has the green thumb of the family. She can stick out anything and it will live.

You guys have talked me into weeding my garden. It looks really nice, but I think the rabbits can see my bean plants now. However, it makes picking them much easier & nicer.

Congratulation, behillman, on a weed and grass free enviroment. As quick as you get over the soreness from all the squatting and pulling, you will feel a hundred per cent better.

As of this moment, my veggie garden is weed-free. I'm sure after this afternoon's expected rain, more will appear (sigh)

Think of all the good excercise your getting and don't even have to go to the gym or pay membership dues. I haven't lost any weight since gardening season started but have lost my pot belly.

While weeding the other day I found that somehow the watermelon that I thrown over the fence at the end of the season somehow made it back to the garden, I swear I have about 7 rouge plants that I just might dig up and put elsewhere, it was some hearty watermelons..

Jim41 - I keep telling myself that gardening is good exercise, but I never seem to lose the 2lbs I've tried taking off the past two years!

MissJestr - those volunteers are a hoot, aren't they? I pulled a couple of tomatoes out of the slates of the composter over the weekend.

Gardening is good excercise. I'm to old and lazy to do squats and touch your toes during the winter but don't mind it a bid in the yard and garden.

Jim41,
Could you post a pic of your current garden, please?

I'll have to post several for you to see the entire garden. I took some fresh pics because the garden has really changed in the past few day.

Hit the wrong button.

This a 40 ft bed. You'll see cabbage and peppers on the close end. There are egg plants behind the cabbage that are still pretty small. The far end is cucumbers that are just starting to bear.

Other side of the same bed. Running butterbeans really starting to run.

My other 40 ft bed. Photo of green beans. They are just starting to produce. Should be loaded down by next week.

Other side of same bed. You can see beets on the outside edge and squash in cages. Squash is bearing and the beets are ready to pull.

Same bed, other end. Eight heirloom tomatoes and swiss chart. Chard is a new veggie for me and we love it.

This a 20 ft. bed. I planted Ambrosia Cantalopes on this bed. They are the best you'll ever eat.

This bed is 24 ft. I plant this one cross ways. Lettuce, radishs, carrots are gone, onions are gone. Had a few cabbage, peppers and tomatoes I stuck out in here.

You've already seen a photo of my last 20 ft. bed with my old tomatoes in it. I did make a photo of one limb that is sticking out side the cage to show how well they are producing. I just wish they would quit getting bigger and get ripe.

The only thing I did take a picture of was my Irish Potatoes, okra and fennel (another new one for me). I planted that in the ground where my big compost pile was. I used the last of it this spring.

Thanks for asking to see my garden. I love the raised beds. They look like a lot of work, but once the beds are built and filled, maintenance is minimal. I turn them every spring and fall and refill in the spring. That isn't a big chore any more since I purchased a Midas tiller.

jim your garden is huge! I'm so jealous you have so much space! my broccolli is growing into my lettuce and my basil is hidden under tomatoes and you can barely see the squash and the chives! I wish I had more than a tiny backyard!