Late Winter garden projects

I've had a whole week to putter in the garden. What joy! But I only got done a fraction of the things on my list done. Dug weeds out of new raspberry row- check. Put manure and compost on it- check. Moved raspberries out of wayward locations into new row- not yet. Prepared bed for strawberries- check. Transplanted strawberries into it- check. Watered them- oops not yet, keep waiting for the sky to do it for me. Put up pea trellises- check. Planted peas- hope I get to this tomorrow. Expanded bed around patio- partly, got distracted by other projects and besides it was getting tedious. Pruned old dead growth off perennials- some of them, this is a new experience for me and I don't quite know what I'm doing. Weeded out those pesky ground-cover strawberries (pink panda), potted up a bunch to put in a shrub border that I hope to plant later this year, and gave away tons via freecycle- check. Not yet done-- a long list of things, including pruning, more weeding, mulching, planting all these trees and shrubs I have in the pot ghetto (yikes), putting up a grape trellis........
Anyway, here is a photo of the strawberry bed with drip irrigation pipes laid out but not hooked up (that's a bigger job for when we get closer to Summer).

The pea trellises, made of bamboo with sections of deer fencing going up the sides. The boards on the side of the bed were falling down because the wooden stakes rotted out, so my son straightened them out and pounded in re-bar stakes. I hope this works for a longer time.

Expanding the patio garden....I am digging out clumps of tenacious pasture grass and raking my precious and not very deep topsoil out of their roots. The yellow clay is only a few inches beneath, and hard as a rock in the summertime.

You've been so hard at work! Look at all the open space and sunshine you get. You really DO need plants that can take the sun in your yard.

When I was at Dan Hinkley's lecture at the garden show he addressed the issue of planting in an area covered by grass. A man after my own heart, he recommended killing the grass first by spraying it with 100% vinegar. Two sprayings recommended for serious 'old growth' weeds. Then he just dug holes in the brown grass, put the sod in the bottom of the hole, added a bit of composted manure, and planted. Worked great plus amended the soil. Would that work in your area of pasture grass?

That vinegar spray is worth a try, it can't hurt, anyway. This grass is Tough Stuff. It spreads by stoloniferous roots and makes big clumps that are very hard to dig out. It even grows underwater. Anywhere I want to put in a garden bed must first have this stuff removed or it comes up and tries to take over again. When we put in the vegetable garden, DH tilled the area, then I dug the grass roots out square foot by square foot. I did about 2 beds a year, 30 feet by 4 feet each. Now I have 6 beds plus two tillable areas for corn and pumpkins. I am experimenting with the lasagna method in a spot behind the house, and have piled leaves, horse manure and compost about a foot thick right over the grass. It is coming right through in spots, but my hope is that it will be easier to dig out because the soil will be so nice and humousy.

Let me know if the vinegar works. Also, if you have a spot you can wait a year to use, try covering it with cardboard before layering the compost, etc. That's how we killed off all the ivy and blackberries on our lot. They were thick everywhere. You'll probably need industrial sized containers of vinegar!

I know they have tons of viniger up at heronswood and for some reason I think it just works on wimpy weeds. I'll ask Allen next time I'm up there.

I might try hot boiling water also, though i don't really want to kill all the worms and microbes. I'm going to try the hot water treatment on the thistles that are beginning a growth spurt.

What you need is a flamer. Except I guess it could get out of control with all that grass. But I love mine. There is nothing quite like flaming through the forest!!

Mmmmmmmm . . . strawberries. I can already picture them taking over the bed.

I have the same grass. Lots of rhizomes and very well established, along with the weeds. Thanks, Pix, for Dan's recommendation - I'm going to expand all the beds along the border of the property from about 4 feet to 6 feet and I'm thinking that's just the way to get the grass out of there. Will take lots of vinegar, though. LOL. And I think I'll keep on with the cardboard, as well, just in case.

Maybe the three step approach will work. First vinegar spray to weaken the leaf growth, then boiling water to do them in a little more, and lastly cardboard to make sure they can't return from the rhizome.

Try to do the vinegar on a sunny day when the spot you're trying to kill is in sun. (If possible) I've been experimenting with it.

There's a horticultural vinegar that's higher-strength than store-bought, but I've been using the plain old white vinegar, bought in cases of two gallons at Costco for about $4. I don't stint, either. I put it in a spray bottle at 100% strength and really douse the plant. It starts looking off quite quickly. I've even tried it on dandelions. It took a couple of rounds, but it did eventually kill them. Doing it on a sunny day does seem to be most effective, though.

would you be able to survive a dousing of vinegar in the hot sun? I think not!
But my dandelions are pro's at survival. I have been killing one dandelion shrub for more than a few years. I admire the tenacity, but not the seeds...

Hi Kate!
Very true! I'm sure I'd start melting too.

Oh, I can believe your grandfather dandelion story! I dug one up that had a root the size of a carrot.

I actually took packing tape (the fat stuff) out one day when I saw some dandelions I'd missed and didn't have time to deal with. I tape-sealed their nasty little seed fluffheads until I had time to come and carefully dig them up....Yes, it looked completely ridiculous, but they didn't blow away to new homes elsewhere in my lawn...

Hey back at ya! Taped dandies? Never thought of that.
I used to pay kids $5 to fill a 5 gallon bucket with the flowers - yes, I had lots and lots.

I normally dig mine out - one of them got to be the size of a small shrub, the roots were enormous. Obviously loved its spot.

OK - isn't the plant swap this Sunday, or have i gone over the edge?
well, that's a given....

I think the plant swap is on Saturday, March 1st. Unfortunately I will not be able to go, but I'm sure it will be fun. Have a good time , everyone.

Good reminder, Kate and Mauryhill. The plant swap is the 1st. I'd better get some of my stuff into containers . . .

Yes, and please take more of the stuff from Dragonfly off my hands! Many plants need homes! They reproduce, you know.

Just came across this (can't figure out how I managed to miss somewhere we get to make planting instructions - oops, I mean suggestions). MHF, I'm working with similar grass in the wild area where we have incorporated more of the field (poor sheep, they stand bleating on the eaten side practically drooling at the long stuff on the garden side). I do find that the cardboard with a good 15-18 inches of stuff on top and left for the year has really worked. Well, it hasn't come through - now what happens as I begin to plant it next month is going to be interesting.

I may need your experience of vinegar, as I eat my words and grass.

Your raised beds are to be envied. And reminds me that I need to order strawberries.

I told my husband that I have decided to make my list of 'to do' at the end of the day so I can tick everything off - he pointed out to me that that is a diary as opposed to a list. Pedant.

This message was edited Mar 4, 2008 7:03 AM

I went and bought several gallons of vinegar, and a spray bottle, but have yet to have both time on my hands and a sunny afternoon at the same moment since making this purchase. So no results to report yet, but I'm now prepared when my chance arises.

Here is a pic of my lasagna attempt, only 4 layers, boughten compost on top makes it look good, but under that there is grass sprouting in the horse manure. I may put cardboard weighted with rocks over the top of the whole thing while I wait the year for it all to decompose. Should I mix it together at all or leave it like layer cake?

MHF - if the weather is better than last year, you will probably be working it sooner than a year. of course, you can wait, and continue to layer more, if a raised area is the goal. It will continue to age nicely & most likely be perfect come Autumn.
I cover with cardboard, weight with rocks/brick/whatever and keep it going, until i'm ready to plant.
Have you decided what you're going to plant?

I was thinking of putting in some native evergreen huckleberry with edible berries, a Sarcoccoca (sp?) that will smell nice in the Winter by the back steps, maybe some lily-of-the-valley. It is kind of a funny spot regarding sun exposure. It is on the northwest end of the house, so gets complete shade until afternoon, and then is in the sun all the way to 9:00 in the Summer. Any suggestions for what could work there are welcome.

The afternoon sun situation is a little harsher on the shade-loving plants. But, if you have rich soil & good moisture, they will probably do well. The sarcococca does well for me, both in morning sun, and all-day sun.
When planted with other things around it, you create a micro-climate, and this is easier on the plants as opposed to being fully exposed with nothing around them.
I think the Sarcococca is more tolerant of our sun here; we're so far north. And if it doesn't do well, move it - they aren't hard to move.
by the way - if you pin down a branch - they root readily, especially S. humilis - it's the low, prostrate form. They smell wonderful, mine are still in bloom from January.

I thought I'd plant a taller shrub in the center, that will shade the sarcoccoca, but I'm not sure what. I guess I have plenty of time to entertain different possibilities while I wait for the decomposition process to take place.

Really nice job - I think you're going to be very pleased!

Mauryhillfarm -

Looks like a very promising, fertile bed. It sounds like you have yourself a sun bed there - and there are so many options for plants that like sun. You can mix some evergreen "bones" in with some some flashier things for summer appreciation.

Kathy