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Post by littleminnie on May 28, 2015 22:15:50 GMT -5
I have thistle too. It really attracts the yellow finches. They nest in late summer when the thistle is fluffy.
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Post by RpR on Jun 17, 2015 10:46:47 GMT -5
The area the thistles are in is becoming a large problem.
Poison five, ten more appear.
After I poisoned them last fall I did not dig up the corpses and probably spread dozens of bit of live misery.
Usually systemic poison works even on Canadiam Thistle but not this time.
The ground is, or was, semi-dry and cracking on the surface but wet and gummy down ten inches and the thistle roots are deeper than that.
In spent eight hours on my hands and knees weeding the rest of the gardens and probalby got one half at most of the other weeds.
Crab grass is the only other one that I make a serious effort to get rid of. Oxalis is only a problem because it speads a disease that is hard on ground cherries and vines.
Purselane is mostly just annoying.
Quickweed or Galinsoga, regardless of what the gent in a video I am linking here, has become a serious problem but so far this year I am two steps ahead of it and may succeed in actually getting rid of it.
The garden in the video actuall looks alot like my one last year when I just did not spend near the time in it I normally do and let it go to hell before I weeded it.
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Post by RpR on Jun 28, 2015 20:36:08 GMT -5
I think I finally got the thistles.
Old ones are dead and no new ones so far.
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Post by reed on Jul 1, 2015 7:45:45 GMT -5
That Quickweed looks like what we call chick weed, maybe we just got that wrong. Anyway it is just about one of the worst weeds there is. It better be edible cause if you let that stuff get a start it will smother everything else.
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Post by RpR on Jul 8, 2015 0:14:52 GMT -5
Last week I found some thistle again, not much but it is in on the edge of the potato row so I will let it be till fall.
I am winning against Quickweed as I pulled less than a dozen last week whereas last year I had dozens.
Purslane and Oxalis are running wild but that is of little concern.
Up by the North garden, not in the garden but in the bushes Chickweed, after being nearly eliminated last year is running wild in patches. Some feet in diameter.
The neighbor whose yard they are really invading, has weed problem period but I usually treat at least part of his lawn.
It is amazing how one can nearly eliminate Dandelions, Lambquater and other even tougher ones and then, poof, Chickweed which was once just alittle patch on the edges of my garden spreads like cancer.
The spray I used to eradicate the nutsedge I had seemed to work well on the non-garden Chickweed I had so I will probably get some more and spray at least part of his lawn.
His Ash tree went belly-up and that makes me so happy I will do him a favor.
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Post by philagardener on Jul 8, 2015 17:45:47 GMT -5
Last week I found some thistle again, not much but it is in on the edge of the potato row so I will let it be till fall. Just don't let it go to seed, and be careful about rototilling the roots - stuff spreads like wildfire.  |
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Post by RpR on Jul 21, 2015 10:28:00 GMT -5
Both gardens are thriving.
Thistles are getting bigger but most of the dead ones remained that way.
Wind did a small amount of damage to sweet corn down South but the potato bugs seem to be under control, probably due to Lady bugs more than me.
Tomatoes up North have me a bit worried as some plants the leaves curl and the ground is far from dry.
I put medicine on them once and will try again but as I am out of Seranade I am using stuff more toxic than I prefer.
Last year both gardens looked anemic at best; this year after a dose of sheep poop, and some side dressing in spots, they are almost getting to be an annoyance as some stuff is growing out of control.
Our wet and warm weather is part of the reason.
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Post by RpR on Aug 5, 2015 14:31:41 GMT -5
I have a fifty pound bag of granular Nitrogen fertilizer, it is not clumping up, unopened,I have had for at least five years, but the bag seems to absorb moister like a sponge. Where ever I set it it leaves a damp spot.
I do not want to bring it into the house and I have several other smaller bags of Nitrogen for side dressing.
I am tired of moving it around and fear one of these days the bag will rupture.
What would be the best time to spread the whole bag in the garden next year?
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