I heard quite some time ago that vinegar, full-strength, can be used as a weed killer. I finally decided to try it on the weeds that are taking over our otherwise dormant vegetable garden. I'm planning to start planting the cooler weather vegetables next week, so the weeds had to go before preparing the soil this weekend. I poured vinegar into a spray bottle and sprayed right onto the weeds, enough to wet the weed and soak the ground/roots a little.
Result? Weeds brown and dead within 24 hours!!
We tried it on some dandelions as well, but it killed the surrounding grass. So only use it where you want to kill all vegetation or where there's no grass.
I also read that vinegar will decrease the pH of the soil somewhat, but within 48 hours the pH balance is back to its original state. So I guess it should be used at least 48 hours before planting anything in that same area.
I'm happy to find such an easy, effective, non-chemical way to kill weeds!
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, August 3, 2009
And The Garden Goes Wild . . .
Wild in a good way, that is. Our vegetable garden is growing wonderfully this year! Last year, we gave it a rest and didn't plant anything. This year, we added about 6" in depth of topsoil mixed with composted manure on top of the planting areas.
To control weeds, we put down black landscaping fabric over the paths/walkways and have been putting grass clippings on top of that throughout the summer. That has really helped keep weed maintenance to a minimum; we'll definitely do that regularly from now on.
This is what half of the garden looked like about 2 weeks ago:
And this is the same area yesterday:
Our crop of sugar peas was much more abundant than any other year. They've been producing steadily for several weeks, but are about done for now. I think the fact that our weather hasn't been too hot kept them growing throughout July. The sugar pea plants grew to a height of at least 6' - I had to reach up to pick the top ones!
(we had to quickly rig up an additional, though awkward-looking string trellis when they wouldn't stop growing!)
The cucumber, zucchini, and summer squash plants are showing lots of promise with tons of blossoms.
We just picked out first zucchini and cucumbers last week. In past years, our cucumber plants started dying off just as they began producing. I'm not sure why, but am hoping that doesn't happen again this year.
(some of the last of the sugar peas and lettuce, and the first green pepper)
Coming soon, tomatoes and green beans:
(the poor tomato plants - I planted them a little too close together, so as they've grown, it looks like a tomato plant forest!)
Healthwise, I've been hitting some bumps in the road again. It seems like I have lots of old, long-hidden "stuff" that wants to be noticed and taken care of. Sometimes it's very frustrating, but I continue to seek natural/nutritional healing and hope that I'll soon be back in more of a maintenance mode rather than a trouble-shooting repair mode. Fresh vegetables from the garden are sure to help too!
To control weeds, we put down black landscaping fabric over the paths/walkways and have been putting grass clippings on top of that throughout the summer. That has really helped keep weed maintenance to a minimum; we'll definitely do that regularly from now on.
This is what half of the garden looked like about 2 weeks ago:
And this is the same area yesterday:
Our crop of sugar peas was much more abundant than any other year. They've been producing steadily for several weeks, but are about done for now. I think the fact that our weather hasn't been too hot kept them growing throughout July. The sugar pea plants grew to a height of at least 6' - I had to reach up to pick the top ones!
(we had to quickly rig up an additional, though awkward-looking string trellis when they wouldn't stop growing!)
The cucumber, zucchini, and summer squash plants are showing lots of promise with tons of blossoms.
We just picked out first zucchini and cucumbers last week. In past years, our cucumber plants started dying off just as they began producing. I'm not sure why, but am hoping that doesn't happen again this year.
(some of the last of the sugar peas and lettuce, and the first green pepper)
Coming soon, tomatoes and green beans:
(the poor tomato plants - I planted them a little too close together, so as they've grown, it looks like a tomato plant forest!)
Healthwise, I've been hitting some bumps in the road again. It seems like I have lots of old, long-hidden "stuff" that wants to be noticed and taken care of. Sometimes it's very frustrating, but I continue to seek natural/nutritional healing and hope that I'll soon be back in more of a maintenance mode rather than a trouble-shooting repair mode. Fresh vegetables from the garden are sure to help too!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Making Things and Growing Things
I was really loving the mild weather we had in May and early June. Until last Friday, we'd only had 2 or 3 days of temps in the 80's, and only low 80's at that. But summer is here for sure now! We've had increasingly higher 80 degree temps the last 4 days; today is supposed to be close to 90, and tomorrow we're supposed to hit low 90's. (I'm sure you southerners are weeping for us).
I may not be liking the hotter weather, but our vegetable garden sure is.
This picture was taken June 3rd:
And this was taken today, almost 3 weeks later:
The Sugar Peas are going crazy. They're blooming, and we should see tiny pea pods soon. Some of the blooms are pink/purple instead of white. How fun!
Flowers in the long flower bed under our big front windows are starting to fill in a little.
Some potted flowers on the front porch.
Inside, I've knitted a couple more dish cloths. This is a cute checked pattern. I really liked this yarn (2nd Time Cotton), mostly cotton with a little acrylic.
And this cutie is a wash cloth pattern by knitter/designer Susan B. Anderson, who has an awesome knitting blog that I love. The butterfly was knitted with Tahki Cotton Classic yarn, which is a lighter weight yarn than the pattern called for. But I already had the yarn for something else I never did, and I thought it was perfect butterfly colors. It's so soft and delicate that I don't think I will be able to use it as a wash cloth and mess it up!
And last, I experimented with making my own liquid hand soap.
There's a ton of varying recipes on-line for homemade hand soap. But basically all you do is shred/grate a bar of soap and melt that into a pot of boiling water. I used a huge bar of soap (8.8 oz., about twice the size of an average bar) from Trader Joe's that's all natural ingredients. I didn't want it to turn out too runny, so I was cautious with the amount of water at the beginning. I ended up having to add more water 3 times before it didn't harden as it cooled, and I liked the consistency. I used 16 cups of water total; which made one gallon plus 2 cups of soap all together. All for the price of one bar of soap. Cool!
I also tried a homemade mix of Washing Soda, Borax, and salt for a dry dishwasher detergent (plus vinegar as a rinse agent). On it's own, it didn't get the dishes as clean as I would like. So we tried using half store-bought and half homemade mix in each load, and that's working better. Besides being cheaper and less chemicals, there's no more of that white residue left on some of the dishes, that was driving me crazy.
I may not be liking the hotter weather, but our vegetable garden sure is.
This picture was taken June 3rd:
And this was taken today, almost 3 weeks later:
The Sugar Peas are going crazy. They're blooming, and we should see tiny pea pods soon. Some of the blooms are pink/purple instead of white. How fun!
Flowers in the long flower bed under our big front windows are starting to fill in a little.
Some potted flowers on the front porch.
Inside, I've knitted a couple more dish cloths. This is a cute checked pattern. I really liked this yarn (2nd Time Cotton), mostly cotton with a little acrylic.
And this cutie is a wash cloth pattern by knitter/designer Susan B. Anderson, who has an awesome knitting blog that I love. The butterfly was knitted with Tahki Cotton Classic yarn, which is a lighter weight yarn than the pattern called for. But I already had the yarn for something else I never did, and I thought it was perfect butterfly colors. It's so soft and delicate that I don't think I will be able to use it as a wash cloth and mess it up!
And last, I experimented with making my own liquid hand soap.
There's a ton of varying recipes on-line for homemade hand soap. But basically all you do is shred/grate a bar of soap and melt that into a pot of boiling water. I used a huge bar of soap (8.8 oz., about twice the size of an average bar) from Trader Joe's that's all natural ingredients. I didn't want it to turn out too runny, so I was cautious with the amount of water at the beginning. I ended up having to add more water 3 times before it didn't harden as it cooled, and I liked the consistency. I used 16 cups of water total; which made one gallon plus 2 cups of soap all together. All for the price of one bar of soap. Cool!
I also tried a homemade mix of Washing Soda, Borax, and salt for a dry dishwasher detergent (plus vinegar as a rinse agent). On it's own, it didn't get the dishes as clean as I would like. So we tried using half store-bought and half homemade mix in each load, and that's working better. Besides being cheaper and less chemicals, there's no more of that white residue left on some of the dishes, that was driving me crazy.
Friday, May 29, 2009
It's Beginning To Feel a Lot Like Summer!
(singing in my head to the tune of "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas!")
Our Lilies of the Valley are in full bloom . . .
School is finished as of today . . .
More planting in the garden . . .
(yikes! I can't believe I'm posting a picture of me in a sleeveless shirt!)
and I am enjoying my favorite place to wind down on a beautiful summer evening . . .
Aaaaahhhhhhh!
Our Lilies of the Valley are in full bloom . . .
School is finished as of today . . .
More planting in the garden . . .
(yikes! I can't believe I'm posting a picture of me in a sleeveless shirt!)
and I am enjoying my favorite place to wind down on a beautiful summer evening . . .
Aaaaahhhhhhh!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Burning, Planting, and Planning
A couple weeks ago, Aaron experienced a slightly traumatic event. His beloved Nemo rocking chair broke.
He has had this little Nemo rocking chair for 3 years, which he used daily to sit at the coffee table in our living room while eating his snack and watching TV (I know, I know - bad habit!)
It had taken quite a bit of abuse from Aaron over the years. We could tell that it was starting to fall apart, so Rashed had tried to tighten up the screws just the weekend before. But unfortunately, it really was beyond repair. A few mornings later, one of the chair legs cracked, split, and gave up. It just couldn't hold itself together anymore. Aaron was so distraught for while. "Where am I going to eat my snack?" he cried. (seriously!)
A few days later, Isaac was searching around for something he could burn in the fireplace. (Can you tell where this is going?) After only finding one little box, he came upon the broken Nemo chair in the garage. "Can I burn this?" Rashed and I said it was okay, but didn't think that Aaron would agree. But he did! Isaac and Aaron pulled 2 chairs up to the fireplace and watched it burn!
Bye, Nemo . . .
You've been a great chair . . .
A few weeks ago, we started to prep our vegetable garden for the season. We gave our garden (and ourselves) a break last year and didn't grow anything. So I'm really looking forward to fresh-from-the-back-yard vegetables again this summer.
Weeded and raked
bags of Compost/Maure and new Topsoil to be added to the planting areas
Last week we got snow peas, spinach, and lettuce planted - some of the few things that can be planted this early. Our average last frost date is late May, so the rest will have to wait a few more weeks.
We've also been busy outside getting a couple estimates on having a retainer wall replaced. Along the entire east edge of our property, an old cement-block retainer wall runs from the front all the way to the back. It was there when we bought our house almost 11 years ago. We've never liked it, but it's been really showing it's age the past couple years, blocks fall off into our neighbor's yard all the time.
from the street all the way to the back fence (our house on the right; our neighbor's yard on the left)
the section along our back yard - we're also going to replace the chain-link fence with a wood privacy fence that matches the rest of our back yard while everything's all torn up
goodbye ugly, old cement blocks! I won't miss you!
He has had this little Nemo rocking chair for 3 years, which he used daily to sit at the coffee table in our living room while eating his snack and watching TV (I know, I know - bad habit!)
It had taken quite a bit of abuse from Aaron over the years. We could tell that it was starting to fall apart, so Rashed had tried to tighten up the screws just the weekend before. But unfortunately, it really was beyond repair. A few mornings later, one of the chair legs cracked, split, and gave up. It just couldn't hold itself together anymore. Aaron was so distraught for while. "Where am I going to eat my snack?" he cried. (seriously!)
A few days later, Isaac was searching around for something he could burn in the fireplace. (Can you tell where this is going?) After only finding one little box, he came upon the broken Nemo chair in the garage. "Can I burn this?" Rashed and I said it was okay, but didn't think that Aaron would agree. But he did! Isaac and Aaron pulled 2 chairs up to the fireplace and watched it burn!
Bye, Nemo . . .
You've been a great chair . . .
A few weeks ago, we started to prep our vegetable garden for the season. We gave our garden (and ourselves) a break last year and didn't grow anything. So I'm really looking forward to fresh-from-the-back-yard vegetables again this summer.
Weeded and raked
bags of Compost/Maure and new Topsoil to be added to the planting areas
Last week we got snow peas, spinach, and lettuce planted - some of the few things that can be planted this early. Our average last frost date is late May, so the rest will have to wait a few more weeks.
We've also been busy outside getting a couple estimates on having a retainer wall replaced. Along the entire east edge of our property, an old cement-block retainer wall runs from the front all the way to the back. It was there when we bought our house almost 11 years ago. We've never liked it, but it's been really showing it's age the past couple years, blocks fall off into our neighbor's yard all the time.
from the street all the way to the back fence (our house on the right; our neighbor's yard on the left)
the section along our back yard - we're also going to replace the chain-link fence with a wood privacy fence that matches the rest of our back yard while everything's all torn up
goodbye ugly, old cement blocks! I won't miss you!
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