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Garden aches

May 28th, 2007 at 04:09 am

I am trying a new method of planting the garden and, gosh darnit all, it better be worth it because it takes about four times as long! Last year I heard about using newspapers to control weed growth so this year I researched a little more and decided to give it a try, since DH conveniently calls it "our garden" yet never steps foot back into it after he helps me plant (leaving little ol' me with all the weeding). If it will make my life easier, I'm willing to try.
Maybe I'm making this harder than it is, but this is the way I figured to do it. Since each newspaper is supposed to have several inches of soil on top of it, I raked a few inches of dirt back, planted my seeds or plants, then put the paper down. I held the paper down with rocks (windy day) while I watered it, then covered it up with dirt and watered it again. Then I moved on the next row. It seemed to take forever. I got two hills of squash done and three rows of seeds. I have one row left, then all the tomatoes and peppers (which I haven't even bought yet).
Of course, half of the problem was that we recycled every single newspaper in the house yesterday, which left me scrambling today. I was pulling things out of the Sunday paper, finding newspapers tucked away in the bathroom (the crossword puzzlers of the house take them in), and generally ransacking the house for anything I could use. I even went to the neighbors (my brother and SIL) to see what they had laying around. I was about to use some brown paper grocery bags, but then my SIL came home and pointed me to their stash. Geesh! Bad timing on our part. I hope to finish tomorrow...I would love a nice cool, windless day.
Here's the rundown on what we are planting:
Zucchini
Yellow squash
green and yellow beans
beets
spinach, swiss chard, and mesclun mix
brussel sprouts and cabbage
tomatoes, grape tomatoes
green peppers, jalapenos, and banana
peppers
cukes
broccoli
PHEW! A real pain now, but I will be loving it in a month or two.

5 Responses to “Garden aches”

  1. wyozozo Says:
    1180322766

    You didn't plant the seeds under the newspaper did you?

  2. jodi Says:
    1180324319

    No, I did not. Sorry that I made it sound that way! Smile I planted the seeds, then put the newspaper on the edge of the row, a few inches from where the seeds ended.

  3. contrary1 Says:
    1180324933

    Was I ever interested in the seeds under the newspapers! Glad to hear I had mis read that part. Smile I was thinking you'd better have some super seeds to get through a Sunday paper!

    I've also heard of people putting old carpet scraps upside down on the areas between rows of their gardens to keep weeds down. I have never tried any of these, just a compost gardener myself. That seems to hold the line in my garden........that and some real diligence when it comes to sort of stirring up the top inch & disturbing any little weeds that have the nerve to sprout.

    Keep us posted as to how the newspaper trick works!

  4. wyozozo Says:
    1180325139

    Whew! You had me worried there!! I thought all that hard work and no sprouts!!

  5. LuckyRobin Says:
    1180396436

    Cardboard works too if you run out of newspaper.

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