And no, it’s not expensive, it’s common in whatever area you live in, pleasant to work with and will put your garden onto the next level! Does it make you crazy that you need to weed? When you’d much rather be doing almost anything else? This is when it hits you. When your kids want to go to the beach - and you do too! Or when you’d like to contemplate a leisurely day ahead, like you used to when you had no garden. |
Remember when you told the real estate person you felt you could easily cope with a couple of acres? And you were going to have it well organized? That was success in your mind. After all, how difficult could it be?
Remember those far-off days when you and your loved one sipped a leisurely cup of coffee together in your apartment in town early in the morning?
It was so special. But you’d both got more and more fed up with all the traffic that seemed to get worse and noisier all the time.
Then you looked tenderly at each other, and knew you’d have to get away to somewhere that was going to be your very own green space. You wanted to grow your own veggies. And just for good measure, have your own chickens? Laying hens of course. Everyone needs fresh eggs.
The reality hits when you finally find yourself in your little piece of real estate, complete with lawn and a “mature garden.” The real estate guy explained that kind of garden is just a cinch to care for. Everything looked so good.
Even though it was early spring, and the buds weren’t on the trees then.
Besides, you’d just equipped yourself with a ride-on mower. Ambition achieved
The first year was all about problem-solving. You sold the chickens. That was after a raccoon climbed its way over the 8’ fence and destroyed most of them. It was a scene straight from a horror movie. You still have PTSD moments after viewing it.
The lawn…ah yes. It’s mostly gone. But so are the all-prevailing weeds that so rapidly overtook you. It didn’t take long before you added words like crabgrass, knotweed, chickweed and morning glory to your vocabulary. Poison ivy too. You refused to use any form of chemical controls on these attacking monster plants. Good for you.
Tears were shed. Knees were sore from painful attempts to dig out the offending green pests. Then one blessed day an acquaintance with loads of gardening experience under her belt looked at you sympathetically, and mentioned her way of dealing with them.
In our area, every summer means a water shortage. A lot of places are even worse off than we are. Green, luscious lawn? It just won’t happen. You see more and more homeowners starting to see sense each year.
This is the gentle solution. It effectively prevents weed emergence. At the same time, it nourishes your soil. I’ve used it for three years on one area of the garden, and it’s brown, not green. Guess you could spray paint it if you really get upset about that, but I love it just as it is. Combined with a simple automatic water-saving system, this is the way to enjoy what life has to offer.
Unless you also have chickens, goats, llamas, dogs. Then all bets are off. You might like to visit a therapist and find out why you have a compulsive need to make life more complicated than it already is.
This is what you do
- Collect all the cardboard you can find. ( hint, appliance stores are great sources.) or Amazon boxes.
- Get a big dump of wood chips on your property. Or you can buy wood chips in bags, that are easier for a lot of folks to handle.
- Cut holes in the cardboard for your “good” plants. Water the cardboard, or let the rain soak it. Now place the cardboard so it smothers everything you don’t want. Put a 3” layer of chips on top.
Just a note here. You can also prevent weeds in your pathways with weed cloth and gravel. Even looks quite good.
Agree? Disagree? I always love to hear your viewpoints here! Your email is never shared, and you can use any wacky name you choose!
Hyacinth
I love the way they put on this amazing display, then quietly nourish their leaves and let them fade away until the next year.
These grow on the north side of the house, so there’s plenty of shade. No fertilizer, just the occasional touch-up with water, and they’re happy.