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livingontheland - [Livingontheland] weeds are helpful

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Laura McKenzie" <laurabrownmckenzie@worldnet.att.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] weeds are helpful
  • Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 11:19:52 -0600

I have spots in my yard where nothing will grow. Not even Bermuda or weeds. Except for wiregrass/Bermuda, we welcome weeds because I need all the green stuff I can get for compost and for mulch. Mint runs rampant around the beds. I pull it up and use it to mulch. The stems last a long time on the ground even though the leaves degrade fast.

Ground ivy is one weed I have a love/hate relationship with. Ground ivy seems to keep the Bermuda at bay but its very invasive in my garden. And it doesn't compost easily. But a stirrup hoe and persistence usually gets rid of it. The soil where ground ivy has grown for a while is much softer and darker and healthier. It does a good job of optimizing its own soil.

There is some sort of very tall annual grass that grows in the worst heat of our Alabama summer. I don't know what it is but its most welcome as it grows fast and pulls out of the ground super easily. August is when our lawn slows down due to drought nearly every year. I have only the mint and the annual grass to pull for mulch most summers.

This year, as a Bermuda preventative I have annual rye growing around the borders of all of my raised beds. Once I pull it out, in will go buckwheat. In August, if July hasn't been too terribly dry, buckwheat is another mulch contributor.

And I always leave a bit of weeds here and there for the beneficials and the bees.

Laura
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Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
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