garden questions

This will be my second year with a vegetable garden. Last summer my father-in-law and DH had the most say in the who what where and when. In an effort to keep the weeding at a minimum they wanted to roto-till between the rows. We planted too close together last year but it looks like this year they want to till again. It seems to me that tilling between rows would just make for a very muddy garden. Why wouldn't it be better to put several layers of newspaper down with say straw on top. Would that be bad for the garden? Wouldn't it keep the weeds down and retain moisture?

Yes. I don't till/cultivate any soil I walk on, because it's a pain and I can take care of the weeds with the method you describe. Having said that, it's probably not worth a fight: with large crops, of course, tilling is very necessary. In a small garden, I like my raised beds.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is a great book for converting the home gardener to wide raised beds over rows. The man who wrote it grew up with the row method, and changed his mind.

Thanks for the info Zeppy. Good to know that sometimes I know what I am talking about. I'm not complaining too loudly, I have my flower beds that they have no say in at all so I let them have the vegetable garden.

8-)

Just to throw my 2 cents in here too....

I've tried lots of different methods over the years, but we've been pretty happy with the last few season's garden. I didn't use newspaper this past year, but the black weed cloth instead, but we also put straw down over it & it makes such great walkways in-between beds...and not only does it help keep the weeds and grass down, but it gives a very clear visual (especially for my kids) of where to step.

~Kim

Yes, we used black weed cloth too, but it's made of corn starch and dissolves into the soil after a season or two. I don't want plastic or anything synthetic that won't let nutrients through or break down.

Be careful, using that straw. It sometimes comes with seeds still attached, and you end up with more weeds to contend with.

We use a cross between Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening and John Jeavons biointensive gardening methods. Both of these methods advocate dense planting, which allows the vegetables to create a canopy that "self mulches". I usually sow an undersown cover crop when I transplant to feed the soil and keep weeds out.

We are going to use drip irrigation again this year and it seemed to me that the gound between the rows stayed fairly dry. How would a rototiller work on dry packed earth?

Maybe I'll talk them into giving me a couple of rows to play with and try out different alternatives. Maybe newspaper and straw on one row and weed block on another.....anything to keep the thistles down - they are TERRIBLE!

Well, what did you end up doing? I didn't look the last time I was out there. Did they give you a couple rows to play with?

I just put newspaper between the peas and beans because they were too close together to rototill between them. We still have to do a lot of hand weeding though.

I rototill everything because I like to first loose the soil under the areas I'm putting my beds. Then I add the compost, manure, bunny-poo with shavings, shredded paper, etc, and like to get it all mixed well. I think the loose soil promotes root growth, and I've had very little weeding to do in the newest beds. (BIG mistake in the large bed the year before last. I brought in a load of "really good" soil. Oh, yeah! Really good. So good that it contained every weed known to mankind. It was a nightmare trying to keep up with the weeds. I finally let them go and had a much poorer u=yeild of veggies as they had to compete for nutrients, etc. This years we dug out what we could, then tilled and dug some more. Then I covered 3/4ths with weed block and left the last patch as a test. Certainly proved a point...that weed block is work every cent I paid for it!!!)

I never rototill my garden. I lay newspaper down between rows and pathways. Then I put straw (not hay) or leaves that I collected last fall down on top of newspaper. Sometimes I put leaves and straw on top of newspaper.

I don't have to weed too often, just here and there. enough to enjoy it.

I used to have fixed beds, that is, the beds were basically in boxes, maybe 10x4. I never stepped into them. The paths were1.5 - 2' wide with a middle wider path between groups of beds. I put down cardboard or newspaper (I think cardboard is better) and covered it with spoiled hay. There was hardly any weeding, except a little on the sides.

I dug the beds once a year and mulched with newspaper and compost.

This method is similar to lasagna gardening in that you try to smother grass and weeds and keep out the light to discourage weed growth- only I did not know it at the time. Now I make lasagna beds and have paths with either chips or grass between them (DH weed eats),

I think I didn't put enough layers of newspaper down. I had a ton of weeds growing up through the middle of them. I was surprised at how quickly they broke down though. The parts closest to the soil (some parts wouldn't lay down all the way) were completely decomposed.


This message was edited Jul 3, 2007 5:07 PM

I'm one of the laziest people on the earth. But I also love to do things as well as I possibly can, so I always look for the easiest ways to get my best results.

I use newspaper for both paths and to start new beds. I put down entire thick sections and sometimes more than one, if they are thin. I've also learned to overlap the sections more than you think you should....seems my weeds need only the mere hint of sun and they go through some amazing contortions to reach the light. I also soak my newspaper thoroughly once it's down and then add mulch (in paths) and/or topsoil and compost where the new beds are to be. I don't always wait for things to break down before planting. I just use a small auger bit on a portable power drill to drill wherever I want a plant. A few weeds do peek up through these holes but are easily pulled.

It's such fun for me to see others' ways and learn from them.....DGers are a great resource.

I do both roto-tilling and beds. Large corn, bean, and tomato areas get some tilling, but not much as I have few weeds ..yes you heard that right.

[Let weeds seed one year and weed seven. ] is a truism.