My 2010 Garden

16 years ago

I had a bad year in 2009. Crabgrass and rabbits combined forces to destroy my SFG, and I threw in the towel. I did harvest some potatoes from my plastic barrel experiment, and I always have a few strawberries and herbs, but otherwise I'd quit caring by mid-June last year.

I decided over the winter to put up the new fencing I'd purchased but not installed, and to try landscaping fabric to get the crabgrass out of my beds without herbicide.

Here's the result so far:

5/11/10 Lettuces, petunias, monring glories and pole beans.

5/11/10 Cantaloupe, cukes, nasturtium, marigolds, perennial herbs.

5/11/10 Tomatoes, borage, amaranthus, mairgolds, peppers.

I did not get in my early spring plantings - went straight to summer crops. It is not easy to seed anything directly outdoors. Hopefully I'll have clean beds next year. We'll see what happens.

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Comments (6)

kathmcd7
16 years ago
Gardening seems to be a lot of "what works and what doesn't." With all the extra work you've done, please let us know if the landscaping fabric works. Nice garden.
tornado6
Original Author
16 years ago
I found my 2008 pictures - SFG pre-crabgrass :)

Here is a link that might be useful: 2008 SFG pics
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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
16 years ago
I personally prefer the landscape fabric, but the BH does not so it went bye-bye. We use erosion control straw matting now, better home for critters. I bet you'll enjoy the fabric. You can trellis cantaloupe with excellent results.

I like the loose chicken wire and I bet you'll like that too. Go git 'em.

Dan
joellenh
16 years ago
That looks awesome.

I got some great advice re weeds/mulch on my local gardening forum.

In the past I used landscaping fabric, but not only is it pricey, but some persistent weeds (crab grass and bermuda grass here, ugh) grow right up through it.

This year, I have surrounded all of my plants with 2 layers of newspaper topped with mulch (shredded leaves or grass clippings). The newspaper will rot into the soil, and helps to maintain the moisture and control weeds.

So far so good! I have no weeds in my SF raised beds.
tornado6
Original Author
16 years ago
I have a seemingly endless roll of landscape fabric from Sam's Club, so this was a freecycle from the basement project :)

6/5/10 Lettuce and pole beans are getting bigger. I burned holes in the fabric with a propane torch to plant my bush beans. My square bird cages to keep the grackels out of the bean sprouts won't work with this configuration though.

6/5/10 This seems to be a clumping nasturtium instead of a vining one.

6/5/10 Cucumbers have found the trellis and started blooming.

6/5/10 Please don't mention these to the squirrels... :-D

6/5/10

Here is a link that might be useful: 2010 Garden Album
dirtroadmama
16 years ago
That looks really pretty! I really like how well your close-ups turn out with the black background.