New Gardener In over her head

I have never tried to have a big garden...a few tomatoes over the years..

but last year we put in a big one. My husband went out with the tractor and broke up the ground(it was supposed to be small) but he broke up and laid rows enough that you could land a SPACE SHUTTLE out there! We got a ton of food from it...more than we could eat or give away. So this year I decided to do it again.

Problem. I am overwhelmed on the weeding thing. I have thought about just putting some mulch around the plants as I put them out..but no way can I afford enough mulch to do the whole durn thing. Would this help? just mulching directly around the plants and weedeating between?

also .... I have heard that rabbit poop was good for gardens...do you just go throw it out there? I have a bunch that is old and rotten...(TMI??) LOL!

Congrats on the successful garden last year, etexjess!

On the mulch front, I think you don't want to put it too close to the stems of young plants; it can let in nasties and encourage rot. Go to town weed-eating between the rows, especially before stuff sets any seeds--that'll help tremendously. Mulch doesn't have to be expensive; I used shredded newspaper last year and it worked just fine--and the price was right. I realize with a giant garden that might be a little more effort. Do you have access to straw? Or grass clippings? Or old leaves? Those all make great, low-cost mulch materials, and will also help reduce your watering needs.

There's no such thing as TMI when it comes to good fertilizers, IMO! :) If it's old and rotten and composted already, I would think you can dig it in when you do your planting, or side dress later as stuff is going. But hopefully an expert (which I am not) will chime in and give you a definitive answer.

I have read that putting news paper around it helps, I am having my first garden this year and I am going to try it. Between rows I have heard grass clippings will work.

Between rows you can also lay down sheets of cardboard or intact newspaper. Simpler and faster than shredding it, and also give a better surface for walking on.

Etexjess, a couple of questions; How big a plot? If it was plowed, prepared and laid off with a tractor, Is the tractor suitable for a culivator. If so that will make quick work of cultivating any plot large enogh for the tractor to maneuver.

If it is a small garden 1/4 to to 1/2 acre, you may consider investing in a small rear tine tiller. These do well and and are small enough to work between 18 inch spaced rows.

If you choose to mulch, and have access to a pick-up truck , leaves and grass cliiping discarded by your neighbors are excellent mulch. It takes about 15 pickup loads tho to cover a 40 x 70 foot kitchen garden.

Google Ruth Stout. She led the way to a weedless garden with mulch.
Also lean to garden the french intensive method. If you can find a book called the
Postage Stamp Garden, this is one of my bibles of gardening, it a wonderful book
and explains a lot about what a garden and individual plants need.

I bought a small 2-cycle tiller like a "Mantis". Mine is actually a Ryobi branded model from Home Depot. It is worthless for breaking up ground, but is fantastic for tilling out weeds. I figure it's at least 10 times faster than hoeing. It is a bit louder, though. I run it up and down between rows and it keeps the middles pretty clear. I pull weeds that are close to the plants (since my skill driving the tiller isn't so good that I want to risk the plants) or mulch with newspaper and straw.

The plot is huge..at least an acre. I will try the newspaper between the rows.

I LOVE gardening...today I got a bunch of potatoes out of it!

It is just such fun to harvest stuff. It is like magic! You put a little bunch of leaves out and the next thing you know you have cucumbers and squash and cantaloupes everywhere!

Thanks guys!

This message was edited May 2, 2008 11:05 PM

g916 - Is the french intensive method the same as a deep bed? I think I recall it being called that, along with Chinese somethingorother... I checked out a book from our local library called the Self Sufficient Gardener and he talked about a method he called either the Method, or the Deep Bed... it involves digging deep and never walking on the beds, are we talking about the same thing? If so then that's what I'm doing this summer too! :D

That's the French method of double digging use to be quite popular. It does help a bit with clay soil, but I personally prefer to build up my soil using compost and other organic amendments. Double digging a row is really a lot of hard work for the benefits. Some people swear by it. It's a matter of personal choice and your energy level. LOL

Now if I had a buddy with a backhoe I might change my mind. grin

I got my hands on a book called the square foot gardener, its very informative and is the same concept, make a raised bed that is tilled deep and no more than 4 feet deep but as long as you want it that way you can pack it full and not have to step inside it. It's definately worth checking out.

Try using a propane rosebud and burning the weeds. You can do a lot of weeding in a short time. Just make sure you protect your plants when getting close to them with some sort of shield (a wide metal snowshovel or grainscoop works great).