Not at all. "If you'll allow" is just a saying in my house meaning "if you think it'll work." Long story. I sincerely appreciate your expertise and experience. But I think it was you above who said "anything organic will work" as mulch. I don't disagree, of course, but reading this in so many places has contributed to my confusion between mulch and compost. If all that mulch is supposed to do is control weeds and temperature, I would think it's organic/inorganic character would be utterly unimportant. And Shirley's name is as adorable as she is. I feel guilty eating meat now!
Right, but did the vegetables did taste funny? Mine already taste a little metallic, so I don't know why I'm even worried about it.
Now please offer your views on sprays for weed control. I've seem everything from vinegar-based to Round Up as a recommendation. I know mulch is best. I'm asking anyway. Thanks.
Organic mulches build soil and feed the soil food web. They also let rain through. I don't have to dispose of organic mulches because they eventually become soil. Plastic becomes brittle and you end up with plastic everywhere if you don't get it up soon enough.
That will work....I have done it myself. But now I put the paper and cardboard under my raised flower beds.
There's this on newspaper. I guess it's okay. Not like I want to live forever anyway: With all of these questions and issues in mind, the National Center for Appropriate Technology mandated the ATTRA, or Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas which specifically targets sustainable agriculture issues. The ATTRA has set guidelines for organic farmers regarding what materials can be used in the soil as a compost additive. The Organic Materials Compliance guideline outlines the basic steps to compliance with organic standards. https://attra.ncat.org/calendar/que...ard-and-newspaper-as-mulch-on-my-organic-farm In short, it states “Regarding the use of newspaper and cardboard, both can be useful materials used in organic crop production for suppressing weeds, retaining moisture and adding organic matter to your soil. NOP regulations allow the use of newspaper or other recycled paper as an ‘allowed synthetic’ with the provision that it be ‘without glossy or colored inks’” The guideline also touches lightly on the use of cardboard and the affects that the glues may have. Here, it states “A few years ago, ATTRA did research on the different substances that go into making cardboard, as well as the glues, inks, and coatings that may be used. Based on the information available then, the basic components of corrugated cardboard seemed to be relatively benign.”
Vinegar will help but it is hit and miss. It works better during hot dry periods. The trouble with using Roundup is over spray. A drop on your tomatoes will kill them dead as a rock. I have used it as a burn down before planting. You can get chemicals that will kill specific plants. Poast...sethodextrin..sp...will kill grass and leave the broadleaf alone. 2_4_D will kill broadleaf weeds. But you always run the chance of killing veggies you don't want to. I have some Roundup ready sweet corn planted as an experiment. But it is separate from the rest of the garden.
So you do not have any particular concern about drops of Roundup hitting and contaminating the soil itself as you spray the weeds? Obviously I wouldn't take that to mean that it's a great fertilizer or anything(!), but it's not poison to the soil when used as directed, as far as you're concerned? Gardeners around here use Seven for pests, by the way, and I'm on the verge of using it myself, though the ambition was to be organic, and so far I have been. I would hope that if these products were As bad as DDT that they'd be off the market, either by law or low demand.
I know I may get some flack for this but Roundup is neutralized when it comes in contact with the soil. The directions for use specify not to use dirty water in your sprayor because it will not be effective. But the only place I am going to use it is on the corn and that is just an experiment. I will only use chemicals as a last resort...and then only in moderation. I dont use Sevin. It is expensive and the liquid stuff clogs up the sprayer. I haven't used any chemical fertilizers or bug killers yet this year and my garden is doing fine. The only bug killer I will use is permathrin. And then only as a last resort.
Wow, that was excellent. Thanks. He's so right about my patting myself on the back about my bin, awaiting that gold star from Al Gore, and he's right that I have wasted leaves for years. I kept my leaves a couple of years, but the piles attract rodents as a hiding place. Plus he's right that I started at the wrong time I can't wait till the end of Summer so I can look in my bin and see nothing but unrotted watermelon rinds! I'll go get some coffee grinds from Starbucks, I guess, then leave my current pile alone till Fall. Thanks so much. I know twice about gardening what I knew before this thread was created.
You can start a compost pile anytime. But it is IMO an art as much as a science. The best carrot crop I ever raised was in rotten hay. I am still learning things about gardening and I have been doing it for many years. I have adopted a philosophy... feed the soil and the plants will take care of themselves.
Round up ready plants have been genetically modified so that round up won't kill them when they come into contact with it. They were developed so farmers could spray the weeds in their fields and have them die, but not have the vegetable crops die too. Apparently they have a selective version of roundup for turf grass now that will kill weeds but not the turf grass, but that is not the same thing as being round up ready.
What zone are you in? Maybe is is a natural onion reaction to a hot climate? Could you plant some under the shade of something else?
I use sevin dust when I have too. The reality is I do not have time to pick bugs off plants and kill them and sevin is about the only thing that is a light chemical that works. It is rather pointless to be organic if you don't get anything to eat as a result.
Onions just depend on the variety. Spring onions, which also grow in the fall, bolt pretty quickly if you let them go long in the warm weather. There are summer varieties of onions of course like most of your red, yellow, white, sweet onions like you find in the supermarket that very often thrive in the heat.
Check my bio. Unlike so many others I stated that I live in Oregon. Anyway, heat is not the problem. And it should be expected that in 30 years I have checked with nurseries, seed stores, and other gardeners. Nobody can figure it out. I'm going to try overwintering seedlings this year.
Well, I thought yellow onion sets were globe onions, as are red and white onions. I talked to a person working at a seed store and she had a degree in horticulture, and she said she had never heard of anyone having flat onions, and couldn't solve my problem, but she gave me half a dozen red onion sets and half a dozen white ones and asked me to try them and get back to her. They grew flat too and she was baffled.
