It's April. Enough already. .....I hate Michigan weather.
Sorry. Just had to vent. ((sigh))
~ Glenda
I woke up to a SNOW covered garden this morning. :(
Yikes, how depressing!! I just wanted to also let you know that the DeWitt Earthmat arrived the other day so I will soon be laying it down. So thanks again for that tip. I haven't opened it yet to see how thick it is but am sure it will be fine. I was actually able to drag the 250 ft. roll to my shed! Good that yours is already down with the snow. Hopefully it will disappear quickly as the temps warm up. We seem to be a little below the norm here in PA for this time of year but the weather looks like it will improve by the end of the week. We are notorious for going suddenly from winter to summer with little spring in between!
You're welcome! I hope you're happy with it. .....I pass the road every day where the nursery is where I bought my fabric. I think I'll stop back in there and see if they've ordered any more for this year. I'm thinking of expanding my garden..... We'll see. :-) Have fun planning the layout of your garden!!
Snowing here too Glenda so you're not alone in that category. I have been working with some covered raised beds and doing some container gardening to curry the winter doldrums. It seems like winter just keeps getting longer, but I remember growing up in Michigan when the snow drifts along the garden fence were well over my head, which was about four feet deep. I recall the discussion about the Earthmat and I did some checking but couldn't find a source. I ended up purchasing something else which I don't like and will need to check once again. I had planned on using this on the bottom of my 8' x 12' hoop house floor as well as around the raise beds. I will Google DeWitt into the equation this time and see what I come up with. Thank you both.
Please pardon my ignorance - I grew up down here in Florida and first time I even saw snow was on my honeymoon in 1995.
Why is it snowing in April? I understand if you're in the mountains, but a regular level?
I'll have to google this 'earthmat' to see what it does. The past few years we've been getting weird winter weather down here, too (one week 30-40's, the next week 80) - I don't imagine that's good for plants.
Have a nice day.
Dawn.
Here in Michigan, we can see snow October thru April, which is just waaaayyyyyy too long for me. I'd live in Tennessee, the Carolinas, or Georgia if I could. I like seeing all 4 seasons but winter needs to be only 2 or 3 months long. We only get about 2-3 months of really warm weather before it starts changing. Our oldest daughter's high school graduation party, back in 1995, was in June and we all FROZE to death! That's just not right. Ugh. Michigan is beautiful in the summer but other than that........you can have it. Mraider3, sorry you're getting snow too; wouldn't wish that on anyone in April. ((sigh)) Sure wish I lived in Dixie.....
Dawn, about 3 summers ago, I purchased what I was told was Earthmat by DeWitt, to pave all the walkways in my garden. It has worked like a dream, wears like iron, and believe it or not, between Earthmat and heavy mulching, I have a virtually maintenance free garden. I love it! Once it's established, I don't even water it! But keep in mind, I live in Michigan. :) Here is a link for Earthmat: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/weed-barrier-20-year I need to call the and ask for a sample piece to make sure it's the same product I bought 3 years ago. Oh, don't forget the anchoring pins near the bottom. You'll want 6" long pins. Fold the edge over about 3 inches and hammer a pin thru the fabric about every 12 inches, with pins every 6 inches where the fold is placed across a walkway. That way you won't trip and fall. ;)
I hope Gardadore posts some pictures of her garden once she has her Earthmat installed. Here's one from my garden.....
Here are my potatoes that I grow in deep straw beds....
I have a u-shaped garden, but in the middle we were going to create a sitting area to perhaps have dinner or tea in the garden, but we blew our budget on building the bloody planter and all the dirt and plants and compost (although we got compost at the landfill for free and used it as a base for the bottom one-third), so now it's just a dirt patch with weeds....
I think the earthmat would be a good idea. In the back of the planter, however, because the property sloped significantly, we have almost a foot of mulch. I wonder if we compact that mulch directly behind the back of the planter, if we could pin down an earth mat there.
I'll have to see how well it'd fare in the brutal south florida weather....
thanks, though, Glenda! Great photos, btw.
this is my garden...
That's a beautiful planter Dawn!! I love it! When your plants grow up you will have a very nice place for a table & chairs or a sitting area! You will enjoy that when it's all done. :)
I haven't talked to anyone in Florida who has used Earthmat. My sister lived in the Orlando area for several years and I remember her grass being stiff and spiky (if that's a word), not soft and pliable like grass here in Michigan. You may want to contact Megastore or the manufacturer of Earthmat and ask how it performs under Florida's conditions and with Florida's grasses.
My goodness, that is really crazy while I am already losing some of my early crops to the heat. Our tomatoes have a bunch of tiny green fruits started too. America is certainly a diverse place. At least you aren't pulling weeds yet. :-)
I will be using the Earthmat to cover paths which are already in place but the old plastic is getting shredded and the weeds growing on top from the mulch put on top are getting too much too handle. I am hoping that this new material will be thick enough so I can just scrape off the weeds that might start on top more easily. My paths are narrower than Glenda's so I haven't decided if I will cut the cloth in half or just fold it over and double it. I ordered from the Megastore link above. It took about a week to get it - good service. I got the 3 x 250 roll plus the box of 500 pins. The box was a great deal. If I don't use them all I have plenty of gardening friends who would be happy to purchase as bunch. But the way I go through them I suspect I will use most of them myself! Today is damp and rainy - better than snow for sure but still icky! I keep telling myself that April showers bring May flowers!
Gardadore, just a heads-up so you know, my staples have gotten rusty and I've had to replace a few of the original ones I used. But then again, I'm in the north with snow, etc., so they're always exposed to prolonged moisture.
I just wanted you to know that so you didn't give/sell too many of your extra staples and then maybe discover that you needed them. ....Guess you could always buy more if you need them. :)
~ Glenda
Thanks, Glenda, for the suggestion! Good point!
Yes, they do rust but I rarely have to replace many of them. Some do rust to the point where they have broken off. But I will probably have to put a lot of new ones in instead of reusing the ones on the old plastic. Half the time I can't find them again when they have been in for a few years. So I will think twice about getting rid of too many of them until I see what I need!
Jessica
Glenda, do you know if Earthmat would work as a bottom layer under a gravel-and-paving-stone path? I am re-doing a flagstone path that has badly settled and has a lot of weeds growing between the stones. I bought some landscaping cloth but it seems to tear easily and I want something more sturdy.
As for the weather...is it my imagination or are we having a miserably cold "spring"?!
We are having a miserable cold spring. It is "supposed" to go to 77º here today. At this time (1:30 PM) it is 54º and damp ! Don't know then the temps are supposed to get that high! Well, will keep dreaming for sun and warmth!
Even if you put any kind of mat under gravel or paving stones, seeds will manage to germinate. But the mat should make it easier to pull them out as it hopefully will not tear as easily as the regular landscaping plastic. We'll see since I am doing a similar thing only not using gravel. Seeds will germinate in any mulch material put between the pavers or in my case brick pavers. It's just getting harder to pull them out and not tear the plastic underneath.