Sunday, February 27, 2011

A plan and a thank you!

I really can't thank you all enough for giving me so many tips on what to do to kickstart my garden for the Spring planting season. I read through all the comments (and the emails I received) and have come up with a plan.

THE PLAN
I'm going to remove the dirt from box 1 and shovel it into box 2. Anything that doesn't fit will go into our wheelbarrow. Then I'm going to use the Devil's Urine itself (Roundup) to spray a kill-zone under the area where the box sits. I'm going to put down a new piece of useless landscaping cloth (because I still have some and feel better using it up) and then I'm going to put down some large sheets of cardboard (that Farmer B was nice enough to drag home last night). Then I'm going to put the soil back in, top it up with compost and wash, rinse, repeat on the other box.

The final step to my plan is to buy some stepping stones from Home Depot and place them around the garden as tightly as possible. I realize this is futile because they won't fit perfectly and grass will grow up between them, but the fact that we have thick weeds and grass butting right up against the raised beds can't be good. I figure if the stepping stones at least reduces this by 50% it's a step in the right direction.

I don't know if this is the best plan, but I do know it's at least a plan that's heading me in the right direction. I hope to get it done today and tomorrow, but I'm allowing myself the entire week to pull this off.

Thanks again for all your wonderful tips and advice!!!


Here's a photo of Saffie that I took this morning out at the garden. She's ready for me to be back out there too!

10 comments:

Amy @ Yard to Fork said...

Yay - you are back! :)

Annie*s Granny said...

Kate, remember Roundup only works on the green growing part, so it must be sprayed on the growing plant or grass blades. It won't work to just saturate bare soil or bare roots. You'd be better off to spray before you remove anything at all from the beds, wait until it all looks dead and respray anything that's still green. Then, after two or three weeks dig out the beds and sift out the dead stuff. I'd still put down a thick layer of cardboard before putting the clean soil back in. Bermuda grass is made by the devil, really, it is.

Darla said...

Sounds like a great plan! Keep us posted.

Susan said...

Make sure you zap the Bermuda with roundup 3 days in a row to make sure you get a good dose down to those deep roots. Good luck!

Stefaneener said...

Hey, Kate, long time no comment, but Bermuda grass will bring me out. Don't rely on Roundup to control it. It helps, don't get me wrong, but it's an ongoing battle. Dig, sift, dig and sift again. Every single piece will reroot, it will travel, nothing but constant vigilance will help. I dig it out of my beds that have infestations all the time. Just repeated digging and pulling will discourage it enough to garden, but you're not going to do "something" and fix it, alas.

I know I've posted about it. It gives me something to do. . .

outdoor toys said...

figure if the stepping stones at least reduces this by 50% it's a step in the right direction.

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Dr. Lorna said...

I had a similar experience with weed fabric, so I understand. And I realize this post is from 2011, but using Round-Up near where you grow food, never mind immediately below the growing medium, is ill-advised. It's what makes GMOs so bad and will affect your carrots as much as your evil grass. I'd suggest using thick cardboard instead to anyone reading this, but I'd also use a safe spray (like dish soap and garlic) periodically--a good plan for a garden, in general--to dissuade silverfish and Box Elder bugs from the cardboard. Safe gardening!

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