The pond dig has begun!

[callingcolleen1]

Forgot to mention, your grass looks nice, thick, green and freshly cut too!

 

[CountryEscape]

Colleen, I mowed last Fri, was able to drop the deck one notch, then mowed again on Monday (3 days later) dropping the deck another notch, and it was like I had just mowed for the first time, with tall grass. Need to not drop the deck anymore for a while. It's really thick and green, and I sprayed the Weed B Gone on the rest of my yard. Tonight, if time, I will spray the side part, over by the barn. No letting anyone have any grass clippings for another couple of weeks, let it rain and grow and get mowed twice first. I just got to wondering if possibly that is why my garden would not grow things. I suspect in the spring, when I would spread the Weed N Feed on the yard, then mow and sweep the clippings, dumping them on the garden, that there was enough of the chemical to cause seeds to not sprout! Anyhow, this year no clippings are going on the garden for at least 2 more mowings AFTER I finish spraying. I know Round Up is fine, it is systemic, and I'm pretty sure the weed killers are the same way, but I'm not going to take any chances. I'm hoping to have a little bit of sweet corn this year. We shall see ....

 

[capewind]

You dont use Preen in your beds, do you? It stops weeds ... BUT will also stop your flower seeds from germinating ... that's the whole point of that product is it stops the seeds from sprouting ...

 

[callingcolleen1]

Weed and feed no longer available in Canada, as we are trying to clean up our streets. Funny, I have lots a dandylions in the spring on my block, but our streets are cleaner without the chemicals. I just pull out the dandylions and the neighbors apear to do nothing, which is fine by me, cause I never liked the chemical smell. Although sometimes I am VERY tempted to use something when I have a ton to pull out!

 

[CountryEscape]

Cape, good point, but have not used Preen for many years. I thought it was great the first couple of years I used it, but weeds still grew eventually so quit using them, just tilled to kill weeds and pulled down the rows. I have no idea why the corn and beans will not grow in my garden, but going to try it one more time. I did put a lot of OLD manure (it was over 5 years old, in the barn when I moved here, from cows and/or pigs, I think) on the garden part and tilled it in. I have a huge pile of horse manure that has been "seasoning" now for 1.5 years. I plan to put some of that on and get my neighbor to till it deep for me. Or, I'll just use my rear tine and go deep. The tomato and pepper plants grew just fine, and weeds of course, but not the seeds. It just seemed really strange to me. I also think that the previous owner had not had a garden for at least 2 years before I moved, and maybe longer. Going to be a much smaller plot this year, as I don't need to can any tomatoes, and have peppers in the freezer for making in soups, etc. Not sure I will plant any more than the few I ordered from the neighbor kid for his Boy Scout troop. We shall see ...
Oh, and Colleen, you're welcome to come and TRY to pull the dandelions in my yard. The pop and the root stays in the ground, just to regenerate larger in a couple of weeks. I have over an acre of yard that I mow, so pulling them would be next to impossible. The ditches are littered with them, and so are the neighbor's yards, and I just can't stand to have all those weeds, love mowing a beautiful lawn. So, it's my choice to spray them. I do understand that the chemical can be very stinky, though. What I use is almost no smell at all!

 

[addy1]

I would love to use some of the preen or anti germinating stuff just near the pond, but it is deadly to fish if it washed in, so it is just a constant do the weeds bug me enough to pull them? I pull them off and on. Will never be weed free

 

[callingcolleen1]

Thanjs CE, but I got lots of my own weeds and lots of fancy weed pullers to help. My mom comes over and she likes my new weed tool that I got last year, just step on the weed with tool and it pops out pretty easy. You can also buy corn gluten to put on the grass that helps keep weeds from sprouting. The city does not use any weed stuff anymore either, and they just keep the lawn cut so the pretty yellow flowers don't stick out of the grass. It is just the wave of the future, most city's in Canada are going green and lots of the chemicals that we used to use are not for sale anymore in this country.

 

[capewind]

Cape, good point, but have not used Preen for many years. I thought it was great the first couple of years I used it, but weeds still grew eventually so quit using them,

*I* like Preen, as the front beds are huge. Didnt put it, or even mulch last year, and the amount of weeds that need to be pulled is horrific. I told hubby in no uncertain terms I was putting it down this year. He protested, mentioning my marigold seeds ... ha ... next year for those.

I did put a lot of OLD manure (it was over 5 years old, in the barn when I moved here, from cows and/or pigs, I think) on the garden part and tilled it in.

If it has been under cover all of this time, it may still be too hot. Rain and decomposing makes it your friend.

Oh, and Colleen, you're welcome to come and TRY to pull the dandelions in my yard. The pop and the root stays in the ground, just to regenerate larger in a couple of weeks.

What is growing in the rear yard can stay ... the front lawn and beds, I get out the hand trowel and dig the bastards out LOL.

I do understand that the chemical can be very stinky, though. What I use is almost no smell at all!

I dont know if it actually works or not, but saw a facebook post this morning that said white vinegar works to kill weeds in cracks of walkways and driveways ...

 

[sissy]

I got the strange feeling that all this bad weather we have been getting is going to lead to an extremely hot dry summer and that it will be a long one

 

[addy1]

We have had nothing but hot miserable summers recently.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I will trade you guys one hot summer for a cooler summer any day! I need a really hot summer so I can lay on the hot sidewalk and bake, and get big blow up kiddie pool for ME to swim in!

This is the ONLY weed and feed now availible in Canada, there may be other brands, but non are deadly toxic like they used to be. It is made from corn gluten, which stops the weed seeds from sprouting.

 

[CountryEscape]

Never heard of that corn gluten stuff, Colleen! Maybe Canada is the wave of the future!
That may be true, Cape, about the manure being too hot still. I know horse manure remains "hot" much longer than any other manure - cow, pig, chicken, goat .... horse is the highest in ammonia for sure. I scooped out the pure manure (as in not much hay mixed in with it) from the barn last summer, put it in a large pile outside, then "turn" it with the tractor and scoop a couple of times during the year, moving the top to the bottom, and visa versa. Hoping that it will be cool enough to use this summer on my garden. If everything burns up, oh well! I'll only be out a few dollars in seed. The plants always do very well. Last year, though, no tomatoes ripened until very late, maybe Sept! I had not watered them a whole lot, and we had that drought, but they never looked droopy. Obviously they were stressed, though. This year I will try to do better .... Right now, with the rains we have had the last 2 days (over 3" so far and still raining today), it will be a while before I can think of getting into the garden. However, if I can get the scrap metal unloaded this morning, I plan to load the truck back up with a big load of mulch, so I can spread that once the rain stops. I really don't enjoy working in the rain, although I have an awesome rain coat and pants! Just a good day to do inside stuff, like cleaning house ... WAIT, did I say that?! :dunno:

 

[sissy]

tomato plants never produce flowers in heat and the plant will start to produce again as the temps cool .My dad experimented with ice in his fields .He did a a row of ice down the center of the pah between tomatoes every 2 days for 14 days in the hottest part of the summer and got the plants to produce tomato's .My mom was not happy about having to buy all those bags of ice just for that .But out of 4 rows of 50 plants each we got 20 bushels of organic tomato's and sold all of them because people were loving there organic tomato's and thought that year with the heat we were getting we would not have much since other farm stands did not have tomato's .Oh and then you could go to the ice house in South Bound Brook and get a 50 lb bag of ice for 25 cents .I think my dad won that one .

 

[j.w]

CE you can buy it,corn gluten here in the U.S. Our radio garden guy talks about using it lots. Just ask at your local garden store. I've never tried it but they say it works good.
Here is a link that shows you how it works etc.
http://eartheasy.com/article_corn_gluten.htm

 

[callingcolleen1]

When Canada decided to stop allowing the sale of regular toxic weed and feed for everday "cosmetic' use, the sellers were forced to come up with a better more natural option.