Sprouts and Weeds

It is June, which is the appropriate time for little sprouts to appear. 

Our Littlest Little Friend on his Birthday.

Our Littlest Friend is now our Second Littlest Friend. His little brother has entered the scene a little early but ready to roll.

Our Second Littlest Friend has been helping Buck in the garden by picking strawberries, his little dog too.

With all the hub bub there has been precious little time to weed so I am using my favorite time saving method for weed control and soil improvement. My Patented Plop Method.

 On Halloween of each year we end up with a dozen bails of damp and dirty straw from our families Haunted House. I let it sit out all winter which makes all the seeds in it sprout and rot.

The next Spring I peel off the "leaves" and toss them onto the weed covered garden. The weeds die in a couple of weeks from lack of light.

The whole thing rots into the ground and feeds the worms and improves the soil while effectively stopping anymore weeds from growing.When I plant I just push the mulch slightly to the side and put the seeds in the beautiful fluffy soil. This also protect the seeds from getting dried out at that critical moment. All it takes to kill a seed at the sprouting stage is one hour on a hot afternoon when the top inch of the soil dries out. Especially carrots.

Phoebe's Plop Method

 1) Mow the weeds if you can. If you can't, smash them down on top of each other. This makes them shade each other and impairs their ability to photosynthesis and survive.

2) Lay the wet, heavy flakes of straw tightly on top of the weeds. Try not to leave any gaps where sun can get in. Trim off leaves of the weeds if they are sticking out from the mulch.

This looks like a lot of straw, but it is only 2 bales, for all of this coverage.

3) Stomp on the mulch to make sure all the weeds are in contact with the ground so the worms can get busy and the weeds are thoroughly demoralized.

 4) A few weeks later you can pull the few survivors easily from the fluffy new soil.

5) Toss the weeds onto the grass and then mow it when you get around to it. It disappears and turns into grass fertilizer.

 Voila! Now you have more time for fun!