Gardening

[RedLantern]

We grew quite a few things last summer: This is all in Seattle, mind you. God, last summer was great . . .

Various herbs (basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, a few others)
Radishes
Carrots
Lettuce
Broccoli
beans
peas
spinnach
tomatoes
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries
Asian pears
Couple apple trees that we planted too late to fruit

We also grow a ****-ton of lilies.

 

[sonlegoman]

okay, I don't mean to hijack this thread but I figured it'd be a good place to add my question. I have a front yard at an appmt that is growing really bad weeds. I'd like to convert it to an herb or vegetable garden.

How do I get rid of all the weeds? Is there a non-chemical solution?

I was thinking about growing/throwing some seeds down of a particular plant/vegetable that will naturally kill weeds or takes up so much water as to prevent weeds from growing. Will tomatoes do that? My logic was that the first few seasons of tomatoes would drop and make the soil so acidic to prevent weeds and tomatoes take so much water. Is my logic correct?

I've removed half of the weeds by hand but fear they will return. They're the 4 feet tall variety of weeds with cotton-like dandelions on the ends (a more wild variety of dandelion I assume).

Any ideas? Or any non-chemical/safe weed killer that is safe for vegetables that I plan on consuming?

 

[NorCal]

Originally Posted by sonlegoman

How do I get rid of all the weeds? Is there a non-chemical solution?

Dig them up. Use a turning fork and pick out the roots and bits of bulb, rhizome, and anything else left behind. Plant what you want and do a light mulch around them. And then pull them (the weeds) as they come up. Again and again and again. There is really no shortcut. Don't use a super heavy mulch thinking you can kill the weeds. You can't. Even weed cloth can stop weeds forever. Hell even pavement can't stop them for ever. The reality of gardening is that you have to weed. Early and often.

 

[Douglas]

Manure. Manure. Manure.

 

[blackjack]

Originally Posted by sonlegoman

okay, I don't mean to hijack this thread but I figured it'd be a good place to add my question. I have a front yard at an appmt that is growing really bad weeds. I'd like to convert it to an herb or vegetable garden.

How do I get rid of all the weeds? Is there a non-chemical solution?

I was thinking about growing/throwing some seeds down of a particular plant/vegetable that will naturally kill weeds or takes up so much water as to prevent weeds from growing. Will tomatoes do that? My logic was that the first few seasons of tomatoes would drop and make the soil so acidic to prevent weeds and tomatoes take so much water. Is my logic correct?

I've removed half of the weeds by hand but fear they will return. They're the 4 feet tall variety of weeds with cotton-like dandelions on the ends (a more wild variety of dandelion I assume).

Any ideas? Or any non-chemical/safe weed killer that is safe for vegetables that I plan on consuming?

Try lasagna or "no dig" gardening:

http://organicgardening.about.com/od...agnagarden.htm

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...Gardening.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-dig_gardening

 

[JayJay]

Planted lettuce over the weekend. Also have lots of herbs and will plant tomatoes a bit later in the season. These are all planted in the flower garden.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy

you know this thread started in 2006! I wonder if Iammatt had any luck?
I don't think I ever checked the thread after I started it. Yeah, we have had luck, and by now have a pretty good idea of what grows in our climate and what doesn't. We just re-worked the soil, planted some stuff and are about to plant the rest for this year.

 

[Wes Bourne]

Trying to grow grape tomatoes and bell peppers on my balcony again this year. Will plant the same in a friend's backyard garden in a couple of weeks. So far, the chili pepper plants I've started are coming along nicely.

bell peppers:

chili peppers:

grape tomatoes:

 

[Sherlockian]

Moneymaker tomatoes...4th year in a row, and they have never let me down. In previous years I attempted a wider range of vegetables, the most successful being broad beans. However, as a fundamentally lazy man, I find it more productive to concentrate on just a few plants rather than doom them all to a slow, withering death by neglect.

 

[Wes Bourne]

Originally Posted by constant struggle

my peas are finally coming up... the sticks are basically going to be used as stakes for the vines

Nice. I tried peas last year but the results were meh. Btw, you might want to use a long horizontal planter instead and prop an old window screen or something for the vines to latch on and climb. I used some sticks as stakes as well and while it worked fine at first, the plants eventually grew in all sorts of directions, not just straight upwards... When planting directly into the ground, some suggest to plant near a fence if possible for this same reason.

http://10yearchallenge.files.wordpre...pg?w=510&h=339

 

[visionology]

So I'm looking to start my first small garden this Spring/Summer in the rear of my new house. Going to do peppers, hot peppers, mint, tomatoes, cucumber, basil, and some green beans.

I've seen some rabbits in my back yard already and I don't even have anything planted yet.

I'm pretty excited, have only grown things in pots before.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by visionology

Going to do peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, basil, and some green beans.
I've seen some rabbits in my back yard .
Sounds like you've got the makings of a good rabbit soup.

 

[visionology]

That is true! Plump those suckers up a little. Waskly Wabbits.

 

[StephenHero]

We grew tomatoes like crazy when I was at home, but we had so many tomatoes at the same time of season we had nothing to do with the extras but jar and freeze them to use for stews or sauces. It was more work than the tomatoes were worth.

 

[constant struggle]

Planted some baby carrots today.

Also in terms of the peas, I planted 3 types, one will only grow about 8 inches, the other about 20 inches... now the one that will grow 8 feet, im kinda scared of that one, but maybe it can hang off my deck.. only planted one pot of those as i am kind of scared of a mess of vines