Putting the Garden to Bed Way Too Early

Weedy Garden

As I have lamented for the past couple of posts, our homestead garden is a bust for the 2019 growing season. Try as I might I can't get ahead of the weeds once established.. It was a losing battle. Now, it's a weedy mess. To top it all off, the bunnies and chickens wouldn't eat them. The only thing growing, that has not been choked out by the weeds, are five scrawny tomato plants.

The only saving grace is that there's good, rich soil underneath the weeds. This is way better then the first couple years of trying to grow in hard packed clay and granite. With our good shepherding practices and hard work, we've got a minimum of three feet deep of fantastic, organic garden soil.

First, we removed the fence surrounding our garden. This is the beauty of Mel's moveable fence posts come in handy. Once the fence was moved, it was easier to till it all under. Our small yard tractor is down for repairs. It's on our to-do list when we have the cash. The guy lives less than a mile from us and has no problem with pick ups. So the best we could do was take a swing blade to the area as as prep work. We just left the grass and weeds stay where they fell to compost in place under the woods chips.

As I've posted earlier, we are putting the garden to bed early this year.

We've spent the last couple of weeks hauling, with a garden wagon, wood chips into that garden. It was one of the best investments I made. It's a work horse. Mel would shovel a load of wood chips, bring it into the garden area, and dump it. I'd spread the 2' pile where it needed to go about a foot deep. Later, we spread the partially composted rabbit and chicken manure on top. doing it this way is labor intensive, but we make do with what we got.

Once the partially composted compost was spread about a couple inches worth, we spread weed blocker fabric over the top. We chose the weed blocker fabric versus tarps or plastic because rain will go through it and we needed it to breathe to compost in place without turning until next spring, two seasons away ( 7-8 months from now). It should be decomposed enough to plant again without weeds by then.

During the fall and winter months, Mel will be starting her greenhouse, hydroponics system will be built. That's Mel baby and I'll leave her to it. If she loses interest or doesn't get it done between her seasonal depression or her ADD. It's on her. The soil will still be plantable in the spring or summer. I'm hedging my bets this coming spring. I can't afford to play around and wait next year. We need the produce.


I'm thinking of doing straw baled tomatoes again. It worked great when I did it year before last although the bales were almost fully composted by the time I picked my last tomatoes. Compost never goes to waste. I just need higher supports. The tomatoes grew up and over the supports I had. They rerooted themselves in the ground on the other side. The Cherokee and Roma tomatoes continued growing, and producing until the first hard freeze.Yes, I definitely have a good soil base even with straw bales fertilized with rabbit poo tea.

I really need a great tomato harvest next spring. I'll interplant marigolds, basil, oregano, onions, and garlic  in each bale for weed control. I always get wheat bales so when the wheat seeds sprout, it's almost free greens for the bunnies. It's a twofer for the same money. By interplanting, it will not only be fragrant and beautiful, but it will deter pests too.

Some of the weeds are deeply rooted. It's surprising how quick the spiny rushes will grow roots a foot deep while the green tops are barely six inches worth of growth. Ask me how I know. Yes, I've found this obnoxious weed in my garden area now too. It not only forms a tap root like a dandelion, but it forms a thick clump of roots like regular grass too. It's a nightmare to dig up. It's almost as maddening as sand dollar weeds in my south GA homestead. Before anytime at all, I could have a million dollar yard in sand dollars, that is. Even with due diligence, it can get away from you fast. Every area in the country has their own weed issues.

Wild Plantain

I'll plant transplants this spring so I'll be able to mulch them in to prevent weeds from getting a foothold. Weeds that do pop up are easy to pull from the composting wood chips. If bunny loves to eat weeds do pop up in the garden area, I'll transplant them into the bunny greens area.

What gets transplanted or left to grown in my garden area?

• I love Plantain that grows abundantly wild on our homestead. I'll toss the young leaves into salads or make it into poultices or salves. They have excellent antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Just put it in your mouth and chew it for bug bites. It's purported for use with snake bites, but I'm on the fence on this one except for nonpoisonous snakes as an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory as stated above. When you think of what snakes eat, it makes sense.

White clover

• Clover makes great ground cover no matter which type you plant. It fixes nitrogen in the soil and is great for heavy feeders like asparagus and potatoes. They also attract bees for pollination. Their dense ground cover and creeping nature, allows for this perennial to self sow an area in short order to keep weeds down to a dull roar.

Bunnies love them. It makes up less than 1% of their fresh greens because it affects their kidneys. But, it's good for people too. It high in protein (survival food) and white clover has expectorant/decongestant properties. It also has digestive settling properties when eaten raw. I'll add a few handfuls of leaves and flowers to salads. For women like me, post menopausal/ hysterectomy, clover supplies a plant based estrogen in small amounts. Just enough to keep those mini tropical vacations, aka hot flashes, at bay.

These are two weeds of many that I'll keep or transplant. So not all weeds are bad. It's just the over abundant bad weeds that caused us to put the garden to bed early this year. But, it's not a total loss. We'll be sitting pretty for spring planting in 2020. May God and Mother Nature bless us.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo