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  • From: S Sohn <sarah_sohn AT hotmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] What percent of your time do you spend weeding?
  • Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 15:11:58 +0000

Thanks so much for the terrific description, Beth--very helpful!!

On Apr 7, 2016, at 10:48 AM, Beth Spaugh <lists AT rhomestead.com> wrote:

Getting the ground cover to stay put during spring winds is a trick, that sometimes doesn't work.  We have started waiting until June before putting the ground cover down because it seems to stay better then.  We got the 8" staples from Nolts which work fairly well.  Also use fence posts laid down, heavy pipe, rock bags, whatever we have.  The staples are great where you walk alot since they are out of the way. THe shipping on them is a lot.  And hired help taking up the ground cloth in the fall seem to be oblivious to the staples, leaving them for me to find the next year or during fall cover crop prep.

I like to have the ground cloth come up a couple inches onto the plastic, and staple it through the plastic.  Our beds aren't always that even though.  No, the plastic hasn't torn from the staples.

On 4/6/2016 10:55 PM, S Sohn wrote:
CY1PR11MB0634EB1A0B7C21F5FEE3D251E3900 AT CY1PR11MB0634.namprd11.prod.outlook.com" type="cite">
Beth--can you explain a little how you secure the landscape fabric to aisles between plastic beds?  Are you using ground staples to secure the fabric?  If so, do the staples also go through the edges of the plastic? Any trouble w/the plastic tearing? Thanks!!

--Sarah Sohn
Young Sohn Gardens
Central MD

On Apr 6, 2016, at 10:14 PM, Beth Spaugh <lists AT rhomestead.com> wrote:

Don't know the time, but I quickly figured that putting ground cloth between plastic beds really pays for itself in saved labor.  Ground cloth at Sam's Club, $30 for 225 x 4 ft.  Can pay for itself in one day.

Got a huge chunk of used silage tarp from a dairy and am hoping to use that some to reduce plastic mulch usage.  First few years with just me, by hand, going to farmers market, we built up a huge weed seed bank.

On 4/6/2016 9:40 PM, Road's End Farm wrote:
4CAABE5F-A651-40E3-95C4-1BFEB95C2B96 AT frontiernet.net" type="cite"> I'm not really sure what percent of my time I spend on weed control. Some of it's tractor cultivation, some of it's cultivating with the rototiller, some of it's wheel hoe, some of it's handweeding, some of it's mulching with plastic or straw (which both serve other purposes as well), some of it's mowing -- and some of it, as Elaine said, is done while doing other things; I'll often weed while harvesting, or while checking crops to write up the harvest lists, or while checking an irrigation zone, or just while enroute from one area to another.

I'm sure it's more than 5%, though. And I'm also sure it's not enough.



-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale






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-- 
Beth Spaugh
Rehoboth Homestead, Peru NY
http://rhomestead.com      http://www.facebook.com/rhomestead

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." -
Wendell Berry

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances
Moore Lappe

It's not that nice guys finish last. They have a whole different notion
where the finish line is. - unknown
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-- 
Beth Spaugh
Rehoboth Homestead, Peru NY
http://rhomestead.com      http://www.facebook.com/rhomestead

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." -
Wendell Berry

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances
Moore Lappe

It's not that nice guys finish last. They have a whole different notion
where the finish line is. - unknown
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