(Compost tumbler) Getting Rid of Weeds in Flowerbeds
No commentsBy rwakefield
You have a prized flower bed, with a wide variety of colours of flowers, timed so that there is always something pretty to look at throughout the year, and it is looking perfect. Why is it that weeds always come to spoil all the hard work that you put in? Weeds are the gardener’s nightmare.
Part of the problem with weeds on a flower bed is that the soil is almost always of very high quality you have used fertilizer and compost to make a great growing environment. Then, you also cleared the area to make way for your new prized flowers and plants. Add to that your daily watering and regular nourishment of the soil and what you get is not only the ideal environment for your geraniums, delphiniums and peonies, but also the ideal area for fast growing weeds too!
Avid gardeners, who are regularly in the garden, will be able to spot the different growths of plants, and can quickly take out the unwanted young growths of weeds in a flower border. However, to the untrained eye, it is very difficult to spot the difference between a weed and the young shoots of your favourite plant. This is made ten times worse if you have gone for a random or un-ordered layout of flowers, or if you have mixed your plant types together to give a stunning flower bed.
What is the gardener to do? Weeds should be removed at the earliest possible opportunity, and this may be when the leaves start to take shape the more common weeds have very distinctive leaves and should be weeded out as soon as possible to allow the wanted flowers to grow through. It is vitally important to remove as much (all!) of the roots as possible, as even the smallest amount of root left in the ground can quickly grow back again.
Many weeds can leave seeds which are able to lie dormant for many years. Disturbing the ground by tilling may loosen these seeds and allow them to grow again. Think twice before digging deeply into the ground on a flower bed which was heavily covered in weed a year ago. One trick is to cover the ground in thick newspaper and then put a thick layer of top soil and compost on top. This way, the weeds underneath are unable to grow up through, yet you have not damaged the environment with any plastic layer.
Sometimes however, weeding by hand just isn’t enough. Once a flowerbed has many weeds in it, your only recourse will be to turn to chemical weed killers. Many of these are advanced enough to target only a specific type of plant you should look for weed killers which are designed for use on the flower bed, as these can leave your prized flowers untouched and yet still remove weeds.
It is important to be as careful as possible when using weed killers ensure that you only spray weeds ,as even the best weed killer will damage a wanted flower if you spray directly onto it.
Try to use a systemic weed killer, as this will help you greatly in the future. Systemic weed killers remove the top growth AND the root systems of weeds. This means that they are not able to grow back.
Fighting weeds is an ongoing task you will never completely win the battle against unwanted plants in the garden. Focus on removing the really damaging plants such as Japanese knotweed and bindweed at all costs, as these will come back year after year, if not dealt with effectively. You should also consider dealing with weeds as they come out. A garden is for enjoyment, and part of this enjoyment is taking a close look at your flower beds if you spot a weed, then out it comes!
Mr R.Wakefield is an author and publisher who writes content for for Japanese Knotweed Solutions, (http://www.jksl.com), specialists in Your Source For Composting Instructions And Information
You Can Start Bedding Your Seedlings And Seeds In Good Order
By Vin DeWolfe
Once you’ve selected a purpose for your garden, and determined the plants you want it’s time to sow. Each seed packet or starter plant you buy will have guidlines for planting. Keep in mind the other plants you’ll be adding and take into account the space they need as well.
Seeds are easy to lose track of so mark courses where you’ll be planting. The easiest way to accomplish this is with a piece of twine and two sticks. Just place a stake at one end of the row, tie the twine to it and run it to the other end of the row. Tie off the twine and your row is obvious. Do this before planting for all your rows and you’ll be able to plant easily. It also makes it much easier afterwards to see what’s sprouting and keeps you from walking on the row.
Plant the entire row of seeds and cover with a thin layer of earth. After planting, lightly water the seeds. A light sprinkler or hand held wand sprayer on a mist adjustment works well. Don’t over-water or you will wash the seeds right out of the soil. The effect could be no plants growing in your garden, or a pumpkin growing in the yard. Rather, water softly, yet often. Keeping the seeds damp is the best way to get them going so water a couple of times a day for the beginning few days.
When planting seedlings, begin in early morning or in the evening. Never plant in mid day with the sunshine beating down. Dig a hole sufficient for the plant root to fit in. Don’t sink it too deep and don’t leave the roots exposed to the air. Pack dirt firm around the root area and supply mulch about the base of the plant. Then, water thoroughly. The mulch will help to keep the humidity around the plant higher and help it get acclimated. It also keeps the root area dampish, keeping the plant from drooping.
If you are planting seeds, hold off until the plants are a few inches tall and then add mulch around them as well. Straw works peachy and is rather easy to obtain from a local farmer. Just distribute the straw round the plants in a two to four inch thick layer. Keep it from covering the plants themselves, just make them a little hole to poke out of. Water the straw heavily once layed down. The straw will work to keep moisture in and screen out weeds and it makes a decent surface to walk or kneel on too.
Many people are unsure of how to properly water their garden plot and water way too much, too little or at the incorrect time of day. The best time to irrigate your garden is in the evening as the sun fades or really early in the morning. Never water with a sprinkler or spray the leaves directly. You could burn your plant leaves. Sounds strange, but it’s dead on, water drops on plant leaves magnify sunlight like a magnifying glass. The results are brown, dead, burnt spots on leaves. Early morning sprinkler watering allows the water to evaporate and not bake the leaves. Nights are best for slow, drip watering as it permits the plant to soundly soak up the moisture.
Add compost to your garden patch to help fertilize your plants as they develop. Also think about employing other organic fertilizers such as cow or horse manure. They add a boost of nitrogen to your soil and encourage robust plant growth and high rewards at harvest.
Throughout your growing season, check your plants for dead foliage and other problems. Keep the weed population down by pulling them and adding them to the compost heap. Keep your plants from drying out by adding mulch as required. Water on a regular, logical schedule and keep your plants fertilized. Your garden plot will show you just how happy it is by growing strong and producing a good harvest at the end of the season.
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Getting Your Garden Ready For Planting And What You Need To Know
By Vin DeWolfe
First things first, pick out the right spot for the garden plot. Plants all possess their own brightness preferences, but as a general rule, they need some daily sun. Vegetable plots do better in full sun while some flowers and other plants favor shade. Sun loving plantlife command a minimum of six hours and sooner 8 or more hours of sunlight per day. Scout your yard for a sunny day and check what areas get the most sun. Avoid areas that are shadowed by houses or other foliage for long time periods.
The location your garden will grow best also depends on the soil. A clay dirt with little drainage or a dry sandlike soil are less inclined to produce than a robust, black, considerably drained earth. Check your location and check the character of the earth before strating. Test kits are easily found at yard and garden depots. If you find pitiful circumstances, debate improving the earth or fill containers with better soil and attempt raised bed gardening.
Once you’ve picked the area, it’s time to get to work. First, neaten the spot. Weeds and their roots ought be dispatched from your new garden plot. Pull them, dig them up, whatever you need to do to remove them completely. All the weeds you pick should be added to a compost heap. Even if you don’t have a compost pile, start one! The gains to your garden are wonderful. The heat from the cooking compost will off the weed seeds, making them unable to reproduce.
Later, as they break down, they develop into an organic fertilizer that you can use on all of your plants. Dead leaves, and old discards from the garden can also be added back into the compost as the vegetation grows. This way, the garden almost feeds itself.
The soil in your garden plot requires to be loosened before you plant. The total area should be dug to a depth of several inches. Spade fulls of earth get turned over and all the clods should be broken up. Use a rake to help break up the soil and even out the surface. Keep doing this until the garden plot is altogether free of weeds, stones, sticks and debris. This takes a bit of time, but it’s considerably worth it. The fewer weeds that stay, the easier time your seedlings will have in getting started. likewise, the more effective job you do now in removing weeds and other undesirable plants, the lighter weeding will be later on.
Now that the soil is groomed, it’s time to plan the layout of your garden. Even in conventional garden bed planting, there are variants. Some folks like to sow their seeds in neat, long courses. Others choose tightly planted, shorter rows arranged in groups. Either way, lay out how you want the garden to be; spuds here, onions there, a row of carrots over there, etc. Draw it out on a paper or mark it out right on the garden plot.
It’s not all about how you want the garden to look though. Garden plants, particularly vegetables, develop in a potpourri of sizes, heights and widths. Some plants like squash and pumpkin are vines that spread in all directions and overtake adjacent plants. Corn can get very tall and shade out shorter plants next to them. These are just two cases, but you get the idea. In order for your garden plants to all get along, they must to be sown so their compatible.
The hardiness zone you live in will also influence what types of things you can raise. Some plants need more sunshine, higher or lower temperatures or more rainfall than your zone grants. Check your hardiness zone and purchase plants that are known to produce within it. Seed packages and seed plants typically will have a label telling the hardiness zone right for them.
When buying your seeds or spouts, keep in mind the rest of your garden design and seek out the correct plants. Ask questions at the home & garden center and do your research. A well designed garden truly is a thing of splendor.
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Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 3:50 am and is filed under gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
