Moss in beds

[tedb]

We're up/out here on the Hood Canal.  Soggy today and it looks as if I won't be able to work/plant my beds for still a couple of days.  Yes, I'm late this year..life goes on.  A bit more.  

Give or take a bit I have 55 "named" cultivars and another 10 that I've collected/still hunting in Europe (lately in Yugoslavia/Dalmatian coast.)  My total yearly planting is about 2200± cloves in 4 beds located adjacent/below our blueberries (cage) ph in the high 4s/low 5s.  I am limited to the same beds//fingers always crossed.  So far so good.  

The problem I'm concerned with at the moment is the moss that will start to grow in late winter (spotty in Feb/gangbusters in May-June.)  Ok, I know stretching and editing is good exercise..but enough is enough.  Anyway:

I top/till-in the beds with a good couple of inches of plant or fish compost every fall + lime the beds twice a year (now and in the early spring.)  Aside from the liming I've tried a Costco baking soda dusting in the spring: the moss seems to either tolerate or enjoy/thrive with what I'm doing.  I'd mention the chickweed but that's for another posting.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[billw]

pH is probably the main reason. Your alliums would probably appreciate a pH closer to neutral and that would help to control the moss. If your pH is still 4/5 after liming, you could add quite a bit more. Of course, this time of year in Western WA, moss tends to grow just about anywhere. I don't worry about it unless it forms a thick mat, in which case I turn it under.

You might also consider a winter cover crop and spring planting. I plant most of my garlic in April and find that it makes little difference.

[tedb]

I here you. First, thanks for the turn-around. My fair guess is that the ph in the bed 5' below the bb's is well over ph5 given that I've be spreading 20 or so # of lime on a 10x35 bed every year. Re ph with the much I'm figuring it's a wash if for no other reason that the moss is 75% of what it is in the upper bed. Your point is well taken.

As for spring planting, given the wet fall I very well may be planting in December. A March date means I'd be in trouble with close to half of my cultivars. But, heck, they could be planted green. Something to think about.

I'd like to think there is something I can till-in (pre-plant) or broadcast (even chems) that would make moss life difficult. So far no luck. Okay, more lime is it.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[steev]

You could try rolling your beds; works for stones.

[richardw]

Nov 3, 2016 10:32:40 GMT -5 steev said:

You could try rolling your beds; works for stones.

Something along these lines ya reckon?

[steev]

Nice, but I was thinking rotational movement, rather than compaction.

That might be good for hulling black walnuts, threshing recalcitrant grain, and annoying the neighbors, though.