Backyard soil rejuvenation project

They can see the link to THAT pic-- you can download it from post 161 or email them the link or whatever

:v:

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It is a mallow. I’m screwed. It says they can live in my soil for years. Apparently they are also edible. I’m gonna dig up as many roots as I can this weekend, but it seems I will just need to start pulling them as soon as I see them like any other weed. Hopefully, once I get the veggies going it will tamp them out.

I certainly can’t use roundup as they are in the patch I’m gonna eat veggies out of. UGH
Admittedly, I use monsanto from time to time in my flower beds even though I think it’s evil and harmful, but dammit the bermuda grass is impossible to just pull up. If anyone has a safer way to kill bermuda grass I’m listening.

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Give full strength vinegar, salt, and a dab of dish soap a try, per I gallon of vinegar and 2 cups of salt and a squirt of dawn dish soap I like to take a couple of cups of vinegar on the side and heat it up and add the salt to the hot vinegar to fully dissolve it throw it in a pump sprayer and go to town spray in early morning !

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Chopped down a lot of that mallow. The roots are so gnarly that all I could do was hack at them until my shoulder gave out. I’ll just keep hacking bit by bit. I also amended a final stretch of soil in an empty pathway lining the veggie patch. So far I’ve only planted the pansies on one corner. It’s like a 30 foot stretch. Planning to grow more seed flowers and such there in the spring and throw down some cute stepping stones for getting into the veggie patch and on the other side where the cannabis beds are. Dad is still digging those out and is almost done. I’m gonna gather up the dirt sample from the beds tomorrow and get that ready to send in. Also, gonna assemble the compost tumbler and the cheapo greenhouse with Dad and set up my trellis and dig a few trenches in the veggie patch to start my sweet peas (the flowers, not the veggie) as they like cooler weather. Oh yeah, I also mulched the stretch I amended as I want less weeds to deal with until I plant more flowers. It’s only 1:30 and I’m already wiped out. My boyfriend is heading out of town, so it’s a good gardening weekend. Somehow, we will have to figure out how to batten down the cheapy greenhouse so rain or wind doesn’t tear it down. I’m anxious to experiment in there with some autos.

Edit- Forgot to mention how dark and rich the soil looks in the veggie patch where I was digging at the weeds. It looks and smells amazing! I was somehow worried that all the macadamia nut shells I threw in there to compost were gonna be a problem. They aren’t breaking down very quickly at all like I thought, but they are aerating the hell out of the soil and the plants seems to love it. Learn something new everyday.

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Do you think it would be overkill to spray the entire greenhouse with spinisad and BTK after I set it up outside tomorrow? Or wise?

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It might sound strange, but have you considered a beneficial plant that has aggressive root growth to choke out the weeds? IDK if mallow is susceptible to that, but some garden plants grow massively huge root systems that can get invasive. Plant enough in a patch and they’ll kill most everything else in the area. Fast growing ones that do this are best.

For the life of me I forgot where I learned that one, but it’s a nuke strategy free of chems and Monsanto

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The mallow grew in with the cover crop and I’m dumb, I thought it came with the mix. Now it’s roots are fucken huge, bums me out. The cover crop is growing in there just fine too. I’ve heard that Nasturtiums do what you are referring to. I was gonna grow some in with the veggies in spring. Anything beneficial that I plant now, I would need to till over in spring. If anyone has winter weed chokers that till up easily in the Spring, I’d love to know what they are.

I suppose I could throw mulch and find some newspaper to put on top of them to block out light

The only thing I remember about that method is you have to use a whole grow to choke them out not really growing anything else. The goal is to load it with enough of them that they take over the soil and kill anything else around.
I can’t remember how easily they come back though after you do this.

Thinking of it I want to say it was a ancient farming technique back before chemical pesticides for controlling weeds.

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Gotcha! It’s a huge 400 sq ft plot. So even if have a few giant weeds to hack at come spring I can still grow some veggies and herbs. I’m too excited after all the work I’ve done on that soil to wait another year to plant. There is just gonna have to be room for everybody. lol

In the meantime, I’ll hack, douse them with salt and vinegar and block their light

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I would take them all out to do it b/c cleaning the vinyl is a PITA. :wink:

:evergreen_tree:

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Cheapy greenhouse is set up

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Take what out @cannabissequoia? I was just gonna spray the inside.

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My Yule gift from Dad

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You will often find that with soil in weed patches being nice and loamy weeds work the same way as normal plants they feed the microbes in the same fashion building soil health weird to think of that way!

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Another technique for killing weeds and weeds seeds up to 4-6 inches deep is called solarization pretty much needs done early through late summer during hot intense light it is wetting the area and laying down heavy clear plastic and sealing the edges so no air gets in it temps should get up to 130-135 degrees to kill plants like a hot sauna or the dashboard of your car on a hot sunny day!

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:confused: no, silly, spray the plants, not the greenhouse! it’ll funk it up & mess up it’s function. i suppose you could but that’s more like kennel treatment :dog: :cat2: than plant care :laughing:

sorry if i’m coming off mean :blush: :hugging:

:evergreen_tree:

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@Tinytuttle if I vinegar and salt them would smothering the remaining root holes with newspaper help kill those big suckers?

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I set up my trellis yesterday. I’m gonna dig a few trenches and get my sweet peas started. :grin:

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I would think it would help, last resort I’d give it @oleskool830 's Texas leathal injection! LOL

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listen here sweetpea :joy:

no poisons or weird shit. just dig out what you feel up to, let the rest slide until they start to re-appear (if they do). then try some more yanking & just don’t let it flower & re-seed. the bermuda will give you way more work to do. :unamused:

:v: :tractor:

:evergreen_tree:

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