Friday, March 26, 2010

Without Weeds & A Painted Window

I avoid toxic chemicals so keeping my garden weed-free involves, mulching, growing ground covers, pulling weeds manually and trying to never let a weed go to seed.  When we first moved into our house there was one corner where the previous owner had brought in some sand. That area was filled with Bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, a weed whose roots run deep.  Since it would be awhile before I could garden that corner of the yard, I covered the area with newspapers, then I carefully covered the area with black plastic. I mulched the top, laid rocks on the top and let the area rest for a year or maybe it was two.  My purpose was to block light and water from the bindweed. When I eventually removed the plastic all that was left were a few roots. I removed them and that took care of the bindweed. The picture below is the area where bindweed dominated. It would have been terrible to plant in that area with bindweed.

2003 to 2007 pictures from first laptop 372

Roses, bellflowers, painted daisies, the variegated Heliopsis Loraine Sunshine.    Notice my painted window. The wall was so plain, I took an old window and painted it from the inside with ordinary acrylic paints.

Back to weeds:   I mulch xeric plants with pea gravel. The gravel holds a little moisture and is small enough not to compete with the low growing plants. Many xeric plants have a hard time with larger wet mulches. In my front boulevard garden I used pea gravel  which turned out to be filled with foxtail grass seed.  Ugh! So for years I have been hand pulling this shallow rooted grass. What a pain.  But, this spring I am having a “eureka” moment! I recently was going over my Gardens Alive catalog and noticed they have a product call WOW (without weeds) It is 100% corn gluten. It doesn’t hurt existing plants or grass but prevents weeds and unwanted grasses from spouting. You spread it at 3 cups per 100 sq ft.  The recommended time of first use is at the time that unprotected jonquils are blooming.  Unprotected because plants that are near walls bloom earlier.  WOW is corn gluten which is 60% protein and has the added benefit of being a fertilizer by making nitrogen available as the product decomposes.  I also plan to use the WOW on my two little bits of lawn.  For dandelions the WOW can be applied at different times.   I am excited to use this product. My jonquils are only about 3” tall. So in a few days I will be taking care of those future weeds.

 

 

18 comments:

  1. We are also chemical free.. The only thing we spray is soapy water on the hosta and ligularia. I took your advice and we now have orange peels where we have hosta. The pics look great. jim

    Jim - I so agree. I have been saving in my freezer orange peels all winter. In the spring I plan to dot them around the front garden. I have so many, I think from a distance they will look like flowers :)

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  2. Jim - I so agree. I have been saving in my freezer orange peels all winter. In the spring I plan to dot them around the front garden. I have so many, I think from a distance they will look like flowers :)

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  3. What a pretty corner of your garden I'm glad the newspaper and plastic worked to get rid of the bindweed. My guess is the orange peel is to discourage a bug from eating the Hosta? but what bug ?

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  4. I love the painted window! Great idea and it looks so nice as a backdrop to the beautiful garden. This is the first year I am using Preen (corn gluten) on my gardens, including two newly dug strips where the turned-over dirt surely exposed lots of weed seeds. I just put it down (our guideline is to apply when the forsythia start to bloom, which is just now). It needs to be watered in to become effective, so I tried to do it just before a light rain. We'll see how it works! I'll be interested to follow your results.

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  5. Gloria, I have been reading a lot about corn gluten lately. I have 50 million dandelions in my lawn (I am sure the neighbours love us) have had dug some, but that ain't gonna work! Please let me know if you have sucess with it, I am quite curious.

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  6. Melanie, the orange peel is to discourage deer from eating in the garden. Deer dislike strongly scents. The orange peel also keeps a particular stray cat who never learned to "cover" from using my bit of lawn and garden beds.

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  7. Laurie and Deborah - I am looking forward to using the WOW (corn gluten) Just waiting for the jonquils to bloom. The directions said you could also gauge it by forsythia blooming, but we rarely get a forsythia year. For dandelions you could apply it also later since danedlions keep sprouting for a longer period of time. This product, I hope will save me so much time. I am trying to simplify the garden. I have been pulling out some of the more unruly vines.

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  8. I look forward to your posts and pictures of your garden. I really like your style of gardening. What a great idea with the window on the wall, I have a couple of walls I might try that on, although I'm not as artistic as you.

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  9. Gloria, I have bindweed in my garden in Gettysburg. At one point, I had pretty much eradicated it; but then the neighbor in the townhouse next door encouraged it to grow over a trellis at the front of her house where it borders my garden. (She thinks it's pretty; well, it is.) Of course it didn't stop there. When I got back at the end of the summer in Maine, I not only found bindweed smothering my plants, but also growing up my front door! My neighbor seems to be oblivious to the consequences of encouraging this rampant weed, and I can't figure out an effective way to educate her about it.

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  10. We spread corn gluten on our lawn this spring - trying to cut back on crabgrass. It's supposed to be about 60% effective the first year, 70-80% after spreading it the second year, then over 90% after the third year's spread. Corn gluten only works on seeds, though. It will not kill already sprouted weeds such as established dandelions. I've use WOW before and liked it's weed-knocking and fertilizing but did not care for the price, particularly the shipping. Fortunately, corn gluten is now more available locally.

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  11. Gloria,
    As I plant a couple areas next to the house, there are two additional areas where I will be placing the black plastic and newspaper, to get it ready for next year. I just love your painted window. The arrival of spring has me wanting to get out the paint and add some color both indoors and out. I hope you are enjoying this glorious spring! :)

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  12. Catherine, the painted window is really easy. I really can't draw. I should do a blog post explaining how I made the window.

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  13. Jean, how horrible that your neighbor has strange taste for bindweed. It is a noxious weed and I do believe there are regulations about keeping it under control - Hope she figures it out.

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  14. Joene - good to know about the corn gluten. Garden's Alive has a coupon. So at least that saved me. I also like their non pesticide sticky gnat traps. I also ordered them and they are getting rid of those pesky gnats.

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  15. Liisa, I have been enjoying spring! I've been out doing a couple of "killer" rock projects. I do hope to done with rocks this spring - What a workout.

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  16. Your information on natural weed control will undoubtedly help many gardeners. I love using newspaper and plastic to help kill weeds. We use a lot of rock mulch (gravel) in our area, which does help. PS. I do love your 'picture window'. At first glance, one would think it was an actual window.

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  17. I am going to look into this WOW right away. If it works it will be wonderful. I think your painted window is adorable.

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