Transcript Weeds, Compost and Pruning - Two Rivers Community Trust

Weeds, Compost and Pruning
NOURISH No 5
Two Rivers Community Trust
First - Follow up on soil test results
Weeds
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Two Rivers Community Trust
Key issues with weeds
• Sunshine, time, space, moisture = weeds. Lotsaweeds.
• Mulch/cover = dark. Few weeds germinating. Thick
layers of cardboard, newspaper, straw limit light to
weeds. That stops them. For a while.
• Buy clean mulch in – pea straw, compost etc
• Don’t let weeds set seed. They are nasty – some set
seed in mid winter, mid summer and all times in
between!
• Artillery weed, bitter cress – a particularly nasty
number. Shrub/tree nurseries provide you this in their
potting mix/plants.
Freebies – you get ‘their’ weeds.
Beware
Bitter
cress/artillery
weed
Don’t let them get away at anytime
• Try to keep at least some areas of your garden
really free of weeds – then grow carrots,
parsnips, onions there – as their seedlings require
lots of weeding.
• Hoeing is good in spring/summer.
• Lots and lots of mulch is really helpful.
• Farmer’s foot – best fertiliser for the field… OR
• One yrs seeding, 7 years weeding.
• Compost heaps don’t kill weed seeds. Normally.
Oxalis – family folk lore
• Hand removed pills – bulbs for years and got total
control. Remove oxalis whenever you see it. Once
you have it – seriously hard to get rid of.
Twitch/Couch
• Grows from underground rhizomes
• Needs two to three control sprays with Roundup.
• Effective control is possible
Lots to learn…
• Strips of carpet between carrots – so very,
very little to weed.
• Your tricks? Your tried and true methods?
Natural means of weed control
• http://www.treehugger.com/lawngarden/homemade-herbicide-kill-weedswithout-killing-earth.html
• Dig em out, boil them, burn them, salt them
pickle them… borax – and maybe mix em all
up.
• There’s headaches with all of these.
Not so natural - chemicals
• Two that are very common – Roundup is the
most applied chemical – it kicked off in 1970
and in 2000 price dropped as patent ran out.
Roundup - From the manufacturer
• 360, 450, 540 g glyphosate /litre formulations.
From the manufacturer
• (Also check out – for independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate
Rates of Roundup (formulation 360 is
common)
• Annual weeds – 15mls per litre; 150 mls / 10 litres, 300
mls / 20 litre knapsack.
• Can double this rate for hard to kill plants.
• Does not do a good job of clover or californian thistle,
ivy, periwinkle, convolvulus laughs at Roundup.
• Thoroughly wet plants.
• Apply when actively (slow is ok, esp cold weather, just
takes longer to act)
• Now is good time to spray for spring tree shelter belt
planting.
What about grass weeds in amongst
shrubs eg lavender?
• Rhizomatous grass weeds in a perennial
border are a pain.
• Galant – herbicide will kill grass and leave the
other alone.
• I wouldn’t eat the ‘other’. Ie I don’t spray this
in my garden that I will eat out of.
Compost
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Two Rivers Community Trust
Compost – key
– tiger worms
moisture, food,
some lime,
cardboard- here
they are eating
rhubarb leaves
Pruning – a plan for the future?
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Two Rivers Community Trust
Currants, Raspberries, Grapes
• Too early to take grape cuttings – they are still
thinking spring in our garden.
• Raspberries – one cultivar may be more
prickly than the other.
• Labels – use old cans and a pen.
• Blackcurrants – get some of two cultivars –
they sometimes need cross pollination. It’s
helped at our place.