EPISODE 382 GARDENING WITH BLACK PLASTIC AND OLD TIRES…
Alan skeoch
July 2021
Gardening is a sport that we always seem to lose. Our weeds race vertically
faster than our garden plants. Eventually we give up and either
abandon the garden to the winning weeds or decide to get revenge
by driving the John Deere lawn mower over everything.
We usually have a bit of joy as the race begins. Like our
row of Zinnias this year and our cosmos jungle where the
weeds cannot get a foothold.
There is a solution. A pathway to victory. Not pretty. First let’s look at the
gardens on July 1…before the weeds….just to see if the race is worth the effort.
Zinnias are treasures
Gardens spotted here and there make skeins of shorn grass interesting.
Pond gardens require no work at all
Cosmos know how to beat weeds…crowd them…feed the weed their elbows.
Nest year we are planning a whole garden of zinnias…alongside the cosmos.
strawberries are an early crop…B.W. (before weeds)
“Alan, did Marjorie grow these berries?”
“Truth be told. No. We bought them but thought they
looked good in this story.”
“Can we trust other stories then?”
“Allow for a little padding now and then…but, yes,
I try to keep the stories honest…buttressed by pictures that do not lie.”
“Those strawberries are a picture.”
“Right. That’s why I am being honest. So you can trust my stories.”
“Do you grow strawberries?”
“Yes…as you will see.”
We grow strawberries in a giant plastic tub…only way they can win.
Dasies know how to make an ancient dump rake look like a fine carriage…daisies come
to bloom early…no help needed.
There has to be some kind of reward for wild tiger lillies. When tender flowers
fail, Tiger Lillies come to the rescue and bloom longer.
EXPERIMENT: Will the hand seeded Sweet Clover suppress the weeds.
We will keep you informed. This crop was planned to help the bees…am I
misled?
Some weeds I love.
Find three gardens here…two with the weeds starting to dominate.
why not let the weeds dominate…
This garden looks good right now but the weeds are poking through….
And now for the big experiment. Ugly for sure…..
we spread big sheets of black plastic sheeting… covered the ground. “Let’s deny the weeds light…
no chance for photosynthesis. Then cut holes to plant
our prize corps. The weeds were being denied sunlight. Death in the dark under the tarp.
In other case we planted beets in a big wooden crate…three feet above
the ground.
And then we gathered old rubber tires to hold the tarp down and provide nests for
the cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, gourds to thrive.
Pretty? Not very. Some late germinate cucumbers in a truck tire fortress.
Old cattle troughs with garish bedsteads are homes to red onions and yellow bush beans.
And big plastic bins on movable skids are growing places for parsley, thyme, oregano,
celery, tomatoes, peppers…etc.etc. When the weeds get too big we will pick
up the skids with the bob cat and settle the pots where weeds have been mowed.
Sounds stupid, I know.
Where did I get the idea? From our son Andrew who has constructed his garden
in such a way that the plastic sheet is not ugly and the old car and truck tires
are clothed in edible plant life. Then he harrows the periphery with the tractor.
Father copying son.
alan
Coming soon…Part 3 of indigenous contacts…The story of Moses Lord…a father
figure working for a 22 year old ‘boss’. Must have been hard to take but Moses kept
things cheerful.