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Wednesday 25 July 2012

Trying Something New In The Garden

The amazing thing about me, is my ability to work on renovating a rental property for months and still keep my own house and yard in perfect order!  This leaves you with the option of either saying, "I hate Little Miss Perfect and I'm never reading her blog again!" or snorting your coffee out your nose while doubling over in laughter.

The truth is, I intended to wow you all with my well managed, working garden.  I wanted to show you my system of successive plantings that gets me much more annual yield than the space allows for.

Instead, I am faced with an overgrown, weed infested mess and I've set in to try and salvage what I could. ~

Are there actual veggies in there?



The only area that was weed free was where Wendy from Herballistic Garden insisted I put down newspaper and straw.  She even helped me do it!  It had been a month; everything was thriving and there wasn't a weed in sight. ~


I'm now working my way across the garden with two layers of newspaper and 3-4 inches of straw for mulch. ~


The only real work involved in this is weeding the area beforehand. Once you have the mulch down, you give it a good soaking.  This method keeps the plant roots cool in the high temperatures we are experiencing and conserves water.  The straw and newspaper can be tilled into the soil in the fall or spring.  Did I mention there are NO weeds?

You can be sure I'll be using this method from the beginning next year!

Next summer, I may even wow you all as an absolutely perfect gardener!  Pshawwww!  Go ahead and snort some more coffee through your nose!




16 comments:

  1. I know it doesn't look as nice as no straw (with no weeds of course), but I kinda like the look of no weeds with the straw! And, one has to draw the line when using time-management techniques like you do! I'm so happy it worked for you as well as it works for me! xo

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  2. That is fantastic! I'm all for keeping moisture in in this crazy heat! Now, I have to go wipe my nose!

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  3. You do have a green thumb! I have heard of this mulching with paper, somewhere and now I know it works! Thanks for sharing

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  4. You are funny and there are lots of amazing things about you

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  5. No snorting here, Maureen. LOL I'm lucky to get the flower boxes on my deck and porch watered. The planting beds are a disgrace. Oh well... That's how it goes sometimes. Thank you so much for the very kind and supportive words. I can't tell you how much they mean to me. We're hanging in there, mainly because of good people like you.

    I plan to get back for a proper vist and see what's been going on with you, soon. Hope you and yours are well and that you're getting some time to relax and enjoy the summer. Ever so fondly, Mary

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  6. I suppose that would be good to prevent blight as well and other soilborne foes. Wouldn't matter - the no weeds would be enough. :)

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  7. lol you are funny Maureen. I love post like these! I am also digging (yes I went there!) the whole straw and newspaper anti weed idea.. now just to get my hand on some straw.

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  8. I am being over taken with MIMOSA weeds. They are evil and if allowed to seed even more so. Take heart every one has an area to tackle that needs mulch. I papered the area in front of one of our swings and covered it with pine straw and we have no weeds there either. I could stand to do that in ten more places. We have a hundred pine trees and still buy pine straw.

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  9. I hear you, Maureen....liar, liar, pants on fire! I was out in this heat this morning getting the worst of the weeds out of my front beds. I think I sweated off about 10#...lettmecheck....Nope! I lied! Have a happy afternoon- I think I need a good iced coffee now- xo Diana

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  10. Hahaha...we all know how things can get away from you in times of extreme busyness! I wasn't drinking coffee at the time, but it was close, lol! Cathy

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  11. Maureeen, very funny. Great idea for the newspaper and straw. I like the idea of no weeds. Thanks for sharing this wonderful tip.

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  12. hi Maureen ... love your humor ... I have mulched with newspapers before and love doing that. I just put down a section of mulch in my garden and really planned to put newspapers down first, but forgot. Thanks for this great reminder. Next time I will get the newspapers down.

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  13. You know, mr fractured and i put down that black plastic stuff and mulch, and it wasn't worth anything, that crazy crabgrass laughed at us! I want to try this...

    Cindy

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  14. Maureen~ Hi just found you...love your blog.. me and my mr used this method and it worked great in some areas then got some straw that had lots of seed in it and BOOM we had straw growin like CRAZY up thru our cucumbers!! so just be careful of the straw you buy! But it is a wonderful way to keep down the weeds and its adding organic matter to your soil too!! Stay cool in this heatwave!
    Hugs from Upstate NY~ Robyn

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  15. Ooops I meant to say grass growin not straw growin up thru our cucumbers... LOL but I guess ya knew what I meant! LOL

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  16. I used this method this year and it worked GREAT!

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