Well, Spring is coming. It's not quite here yet, but you can scent the promise of it in the air. I live in Tulsa. That means we can get a snowfall on Easter, and we have. So I don't actually do any planting before Easter, but I do like to plan out what I'm going to do.
This year, I have to redo all my flower beds. Scrape out the weeds, plant new plants and re-mulch all half a mile of them. This year I've decided to try a little REUSE gardening. I have some friends in Virginia who swear by this, but they get the Washington Post. I think that has something to do with it.
To block the grass/weed growth between plants, you layer the ground with sodden sections of newspaper, one half to an inch thick. And soaking wet. It's kind of a yucky job. I trust these people, but last fall, I did a test patch to see if I wanted to try this in the Spring. The alternative is to dig out all the beds, put in new soil and start completely fresh. So, I took a small stack of newspapers, wet them down and papered about a 2 ft by 4 ft section of my front flower bed. I planted five or six plants and mulched it. I've been inspecting my test patch for months now. As the wild strawberries and crazy weeds started springing up through the ice and snow, my test patch stayed clear. So the newspaper treatment is a go.
My next problem was locating enough newspaper to do the whole job. Have you seen our local paper? It's not even fat on Wednesdays or Sundays. (The Washington Post is over a pound a day.)
I asked a few friends to save their papers for me--I would recycle them instead of the Tulsa Waste Department. I got a little stack going. When I looked through my yard at all the beds facing me, I despaired. Then I relented and posted a cry out to my writer's loop. I begged them to save their papers and bring them to the next meeting.
I'm an optimist, so I drove the pickup truck to the meeting on Saturday. About five different ladies brought me a couple of weeks worth of the TulsaWorld to use and it's an impressive start. I told them to save up and I'd take their next month's worth of papers. If they do that, I may have enough to layer up the beds and get them all re-done. If we were all reading the Washington Post, I'd have enough already!
--Sandee Wagner
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Okay, I've done the newspaper thing, and they don't have to be wet when you put them down. They can be dry. That way it's not as messy a job. You just have to keep them from blowing away after you move to the next section. I use little rocks, but water will work.
I always put straw on top of my papers, but shredded bark mulch works there, too.
With as much as you have to do, you can test all kinds of ways and give us the results.
BTW: having done that for several years, when I moved out here, I started using the roll weed barriers. It does pretty good, too. LOL. Costs more but it's more convenient.
Susan
I've used both newspaper and old manuscript pages with good results. I also put 'em down dry and weight 'em with something until I get the mulch down. Manuscript pages don't break down nearly as fast, but I've got a ton of them, so I don't care.
I've used the weed barrier -- definitely one product where there's a real quality difference beween cheap and expensive -- but I'm not real thrilled with it.
I've always thought the Tulsa World belonged rotting in the ground! LOL.
Susan,
I'm so CHEAP!! And I'm not a gardener. I'm willing to learn the local varieties and what is drought tolerant just so I never have to water... I want to do it once and then forget it.
I've tried other stuff, but this year, it's wet newspapers. spw
Marilyn,
I have to agree that the TulsaWorld deserves to be recycled in this way. Miss Peggy brought me some Gushers from Drumright. The jury is still out on those... but they are a funky size. Must own their own antique press.
I don't have the manuscript pages you've got... so I'm giving newspaper a try. When we first did the beds, DH refused to dig out the sod first, he ran a tiller over it and did the beds, so I've been fighting the grass for ten years. The weeds are the newest problem. spw
Post a Comment