Picture of the Garden early in the day before being weeded.
Another patch of weeds
A Picture of the Corn after cultivation and weeding
We had the chance to take a break from it all by going to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was a nice trip, but the sad part is that we came back to very dry conditions. We also came back to a garden that was full of weeds. The good news is that we were able to tackle the weeds fairly quickly using our favorite tools: the wheel cultivator and the stirrup hoe. Taking advantage of the dry conditions of the soil, I made several passed with the cultivator. This helped remove most of the small weeds and loosen the soil around the larger weeds. I then passed the stirrup hoe through the loosened soil. This loosened up the remainder of the larger weeds. I then raked the weeds to the edge of the garden, so that they could be placed into the compost pile.
A mostly Cultivated portion of the garden. The Wheel Cultivator is out of gas at this point (At least the operator of the weed Cultivator was out of gas)
I tried again to use the collinnear hoe, but I must be doing something wrong with that. I can’t seem to get mine to work well.
The one positive is that the weeds will be turned into compost later on. This compost will turn a negative into a positive. The weeds were stealing nutrients from the soil and the desired plants, but the weeds will return those nutrients back to the garden in the form of the compost. I actually tried something new with the weeds. I placed the big weeds into the cold frame and I will keep it closed. This way, the weeds will cook faster. It is just a hunch, but I will try it and see what happens.
I also took time to plant some pumpkin seeds and some popcorn. The popcorn is a new crop for us this year. I used a heirloom open pollinated variety. This way we can save the seeds for next year. I have been trying to use open-pollinated and heirloom varieties more and more. I figure that I can save seeds for the future, therefore saving a bit of money down the road (assuming that the varieties are as good as the hybrids that we have used in the past.) I planted most heirloom varieties as either new crops or as backup crops to ones that we have tended to rely upon in the past.
I often like to link to related articles as I go along. Hopefully these provide you with more information than what I can touch upon in any particular post. I also figure that this is a way to help out other bloggers that post good content. I follow farm on a regular basis.
Related articles
- The difference between open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid seeds (thrivefarm.wordpress.com)
- Organic GMO-Free Corn – From WI Farms (wholefoodandmore.net)
- 4 Reasons Why Heirloom Seeds Should Have a Superiority Complex (livingseedcompany.wordpress.com)
- The Beauty of Heirloom Seeds (eatdrinkbetter.com)
- Heirloom Plants. Fruits, Veggies and Flowers (nicolebrait.com)
