It was yet another beat the rain weekend. And we did. Rain Saturday afternoon into the evening and then rain again Sunday.
I edged everything, hadn't done that in about 3 weeks, maybe a month now. It was crazy tall. I should have gotten a before pic. But now everything looks neater and we're OK with that. I really need to find a way to reduce grass around the raised beds that is safe for the trees since they are fruit trees. Also getting grass in the raised beds, but I can fix that with mulch and/or might put some weed cloth over the soil and around the base of the trees.
Can't do that around the outside of the beds though, it would get caught up in the mower. Can't do gravel for the same reason. Maybe if I dig away the grass right around them and just keep it cleared the ground will give up on growing, ha.
Any suggestions?
I know you like it neat and tidy, but real farms are not neat. With the time you spend on trimming, you could grow another crop. So, my suggestion? would be to put flat paving stones that the mower could drive over. But, if fruit falls, it will smash to smithereens.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I should not have said "real farms" because yours is a real farm. I meant larger farms, I guess.
DeleteOH I like the idea of flat paving stones. Even just small ones to keep the grass away from the sides of the raised beds. And do not worry at all about 'real farms', ha. We totally understood and hey, other than an old house and a garden, we have no livestock or large crops, so it's kind of a farm in progress, ha.
DeleteRained here all weekend as well but was finally able to some mowing later in afternoon once the grass dried somewhat.
ReplyDeleteAround the outside of your beds, I would lay down thick layer of newspaper/ cardboard; about 12 inches in width and then on top, lay your weed blocking cloth and then I would go ahead and use 12" pavers as a solid border around the beds.
Digging out the grass or using grass cutter around them would really help Before laying cardboard, cloth and pavers.
That Bermuda grass is really a pain in the butt trying to keep it out of the beds. Their runners grow deep and spread like crazy.
Wishing you all the best
I like the pavers idea. Yes, putting down cardboard and then some woodblock fabric under the pavers. If I inset them a bit, as Linda said above, I could mow over them which would keep the grass manageable around them. Thanks!
DeleteCardboard rots and molds. I would not want that around my plants. The mold stinks, too. Just use heavyweight cloth.
DeleteOkay, I have your solution. Have you ever seen the round mats of recycled tires? they make these in long mats, too, that you can cut to fit. I want these, too. This is suggested in place of Roundup for weeds.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.conservastore.com/2011/08/alternatives-to-roundup-or-herbicides.html
What do you thing of this idea? I see these round rings all the time. They will probably go on sale soon.
To get the mats or rings to stay down, I have the solution for that. I use these to keep the hog wire flat on the ground where I put it under walls of the chickens' pen--garden pins. They are for keep weed barrier down. They look just like a hairpin, but they are heavy wire and will keep these mats down, too.
These are about 5-6 inches long.
DeleteOkay, scroll down to picture of lawn mower on mat.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.conservastore.com/tree-ring-mulch-mats-made-of-recycled-goods-a/294.htm
Grass is such an underestimated weed! I had grass paths on am old garden- never again. I was always fighting it!
ReplyDelete