My philosophy for the front garden up to this year was “don’t weed anything because you don’t know what was planted on purpose.” Last year I had an American pokeberry, which isn’t especially attractive but is native and birds like it so I left it in. Now the ENTIRE bed is pokeweed seedlings
Just cause it’s native doesn’t mean you should keep it! And is there an easier way to get these out of the garden that I’m now trying to deliberately grow? (With all native pollinator/bird plants so it feels a little rude to kill the pokeberry but they’re all over the city so it’s fine and they’re SO TALL they don’t go in the garden)
pokeweed, although native like you said, is a beast. You probably have to dig it out, or strategically use herbicide (cut stems and carefully paint the cut stem with a tiny brush), though usually that is more effective in the fall.
I’m afraid if I dig the whole thing out I’ll kill the mountain laurel (which is already struggling with some sort of fungal thing), they’re like 5 inches apart.
I’ll just keep digging it every so often. And remember this for the future
Ohhhh hm yeah, mountain Laurel take forever to grow, I wouldn’t want to risk it!
I also have some in the yard, luckily not new baby plants but there are a few well established plants that I’m probably going to be cutting back forever unless I cave and poison!
Poke stems are super brittle, though. You can just kick them over and break them most of the time. Keep that up for a few weeks and you’ll wear the plant out.
I never remember frequently enough for this, but there tend to be a main root almost like a carrot. If you can maybe get that out with a hand trowel or narrow shovel maybe it won’t disturb the laurel so much? Says the random internet person who can’t see the situation or dig my hands in the dirt.
Veggies are in! Sunsugar and red cherry tomatoes, curly parsley, Italian basil, and a Serrano pepper. More room for another pepper if we find a good option. Mint looks like it could be coming back between the tomatoes?
pruned back the witchhazel a bit. I know it’s probably the wrong time of the year, but the branches really needed some lightening up, they were lying very low in spots.
At the end of last fall I tried to do some hot composting, but I didn’t have enough grass clippings and there were too many pine needles and leaves in what grass clippings I was able to get, so it was a big failure (it only got hot for like 2 days). I also had made a big chicken wire bin for it, but because I wanted to be able to turn it, that also wasn’t that smart. (I’m actually not sure what I was thinking at the time.)
It sat all winter with me periodically adding kitchen scraps to the middle and it doing basically nothing.
Finally spring is here and finally it is warm so on Friday I disassembled the bin and started turning it into a new pile and added some fresh grass I had just mowed. Unfortunately it got dark before I even got half way through, and the next day it rained ALL DAY. So both the old pile and the new pile are now pretty soaked. But yesterday the new pile at least started to heat up and this morning it was at 110. Also, there was some finished looking compost in there, in among the leaves, but I would have to screen it to get the useable stuff out, which is kind of unlikely except very coarsely.
But I need it to be a hot pile because there are fern stems and a lot of leaves still, so I finished turning the old pile into the new pile and added some more grass. The new pile is basically air temperature now because of the extensive mixing with the old pile.
It too a long time to do because the old pile is heavy and thick, so anyway, pray for me that this works because i’m 95% sure weed seeds also in there and I am going to have to turn this giant pile like 14 times.
That’s where I’m currently stuck. Need to make two more bays. One for the second chicken run bedding and one for it to be turned into. Then every other bay can be turned as well.
Just another pile on the ground - I don’t want to spend money constructing anything right now (though yours looks really nice) and I don’t have time anyway. It’s way at the far back corner of the yard (pretty far away from the house), so and there is not really “lawn” back there anyway. So I’ll just keep moving them back and forth from two adjacent spots. I might construct a little fence later so I don’t have to see it back there, but that’s like item #827 on the to do list… I’m theoretically following the Berkeley (sp?) method…
Berkley method is good, Geoff Lawton does piles, Richard Perkins does cylinders. I would do Berkley if my inputs were more varied than the current ones I have.
Hi @Bernadette re: your sand issue. Some people think amending clay with sand improves the soil. In fact, what you need is a boatload of compost and manure! Maybe the previous owner was one of the sand amendment proponents?
In case it isn’t clear, that is sand. From, presumably, the base for the former patio (that all the slate came from). Because there are no soils in my area that are pure sand unless you are, like, on the shore. They removed the patio but laid sod directly on top of the leveling sand.
Patio sand won’t be all that deep. May have a layer of gravel under it, though. You need to dig it out, sorry. Max 8 inches if they did 4 of each, then plant your tree below. You may need to add some compost or soil to level it up, sorry.
pokeweed, although native like you said, is a beast. You probably have to dig it out, or strategically use herbicide (cut stems and carefully paint the cut stem with a tiny brush), though usually that is more effective in the fall.
