Need Plan for Taming Overgrown Garden

[maddy]

This will be my first year on a new plot of ground on the Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho border, and I am excited to do some serious gardening for the first time!

There is a nice garden space in the pasture measuring about 30 by 50 feet, with good deer fencing and a nearby water source. I am told that the soil was built up well by the people who owned the property many years ago; however, the garden looks to have been ignored for quite some time. It is now covered with snow, but as of a few weeks ago, it was thick with pasture grass and weeds standing nearly 3 feet tall, with bushy growth in spots. Unfortunately I moved in so late in the year that there just wasn't time to get the garden area tamed before winter.

The snow will be gone by April, and I would like to have a plan for getting the garden spiffed up and ready to plant. I would welcome any suggestions.

My thinking so far is to knock everything down with a string trimmer as soon as the snow subsides, rototill everything under, then cover with either black plastic or newspaper layered with a mixture of grass clippings, straw, and manure. I've undoubtedly got weed seeds galore in there, so I'm not sure whether it's realistic to attempt planting this first year, or whether I should just concentrate on getting the soil weed-free and well tilled.

What do you think would be a realistic plan for this first year? Thanks so much for your ideas! - Maddy

[lisa's garden]

You might want to try burning it off first. That should kill some of the weed seeds and provide a nice layer of biochar on the soil. Then, instead of tilling, put down a layer of newspaper, top with a layer of compost (only necessary where you are planting) and then plant into the compost. This will save you a ton of labor. If you cover the whole garden with newspaper, put down rows of compost for your plants, and then put mulch, cardboard or more newspaper between the row, you should have much better luck keeping the weeds down.
Happy Gardening!

[maddy]

Burning. . . hmmmm. I hadn't thought of that. May I ask how to do that safely? I'm surrounded by grass and trees.

[Marcia in MT]

I agree with the advice to either cut everything off close to the ground or burn it off, then layer heavily with newspaper and plant through that. Adding grass clippings is not absolutely necessary, unless you just don't like the look of newspaper -- and there might be a chance of the wind picking it up before it has a chance to mat down (water it well and that will help dissolve a bit of the top layer and help it to mat down).

Around here, the farmers contain the fires they set in their fields by plowing around the edges first -- not then enough organic matter showing to sustain fire. You could try tilling around the garden's edges inside the fence. Or, wet down the borders VERY WELL first.

I'm sure you know all this already, but just in case: in future years, mulching well will help keep the weeds down, conserve water, and add organic matter to your soil.

Happy gardening to you!

[fishhead]

If you can wait a year grow a crop of chickens on it. The chickens will kill nearly every weed and add more organic matter and nutrients to the soil. I did that with an overgrown weed patch and the next year I didn't pick more than a double handful of weeds. Everything was a beautiful lush green too.

[chickenista]

You definitely do not want to till it. It will cause the old buried seeds to sprout and you will have even more weeds and grasses.
I moved the garden to a weed patch this year.
We burned it off, dug up big root balls of perennial weeds.
Then I chose where I wanted the beds to be and turned the soil over on them only.
I continued to turn and kill weeds and turn and kill weeds etc..until time to plant in them.
The walkways I kept hoed and scraped the weedlings up onto the side of the beds. As the season went on, my walkways became clear and hardpacked and my raised mound beds grew.
The secret is to keep any of the weeds from going to seed.. unless you want them too. I let my lamb's quarter grow as much as it wants (in certain areas like the fenceline) because we eat it.

Here is a quick pic of one of the burners, wonderful thing and murder on pillbugs and great for burning down old plants at the end of the year. Great garden tool! (to get bad bugs, leave a pile of clippings in the garden, then rake the clippings back and lay seige with fire to crawlies on the ground!!)
http://www.flameengineering.com/Red_...e_Torch_K.html

[maddy]

Wow, so many ideas here! Please keep them coming!

[Caitedid]

We burned ours off this summer after a monster crop of fox tails. Started a small back fire to keep the flames from going too far. Flaming was a lot of fun too, very cathartic. Plan for next year is to frost seed in clover, then start tilling. Caite

[beaglebiz]

I second the chicken idea

[lisa's garden]

Pigs will do a great job of tilling too. If you burn, don't wait until things are too dry or the chance of spreading is too great. The advice above is great!

[Callieslamb]

I turned pasture - never a garden spot - into garden a couple of years ago. I just tilled it up 3x before planting. I used all the moving boxes as mulch. Tilling doesn't seem to have made more weeds in my garden- even for the places I didn't put down mulch. I do get weeds but not like I expected in a former pasture. I think how to move forward depends partially on what kind of soil you have. I have sandy loam - leaning to the sandy more than the loamy part. It's easy to till and easy to pull up weeds. If you are on a more clay soil, I'd till or at least double dig it. Clay can have problems with drainage and can trap too much water around a plant's roots. Adding organic matter to the top won't improve that situation rather - it needs to be tilled into the soil. So if you have well-draining soil, I think you can get by much easier without tilling than if you have drainage problems. If you have perennial pasture grasses, they will be much more difficult to get rid of if you don't kill them first. Newspaper mulch has never worked for me on pasture grasses. There are many here that have had it work, but I have had better luck with cardboard. I don't like the pieces blowing around as it decomposes though.

[fishhead]

Another option is just to till it every couple of weeks for an entire season to get the weeds to sprout before you kill them with the tiller. If necessary water the spot to get the seeds to sprout.

[next1]

I liked the idea with the newspapers spread over the garden but what about the possibility of spreading toxic chemicals from the newspaper ink, into the ground? Did they still use led in that ink?

[Rusty'sDog]

Most newspapers today use soy based inks. I think the lead based inks have looong been gone.

[PNWest]

Another option, stake down black plastic as soon as the snow is gone. Even in the early spring, temperatures will rise enough under the plastic to kill weed seeds.

In that area, your last frost date will be after the 15 of May. So you might try openings in the plastic for squash, and more heat loving plants.

[Molly Mckee]

Welcome to the area!
Do not burn off the garden if you are in WA-check the law in Idaho. Burning is not allowed--burning barrels have been against the law for 30+ years in WA. There are very strict rules about burning here, size of pile, water on site, weather, and equipment, and a permit is required. However, burning that big a area is not permitted. The fine is over a thousand dollars--and you are responsible for any damage you cause, as well as the cost of putting out the fire. Call the DNR or check with your local fire district. Set fires getting out of control cause millions of dollar of damage to the forests in the west and WA takes them very seriously.

[Molly Mckee]

Sorry, I had to wash the snowballs off the dogs DH let in and hit the wrong button.
Anyway, I would use a mulching mower if you have one that can handle the weeds, otherwise use a string mower first. Then till with as big a tiller as you can,- there are quit a few tractor mounted ones in the area and they do a good job because they are heavy and go quite deep. Wait about three weeks and repeat if necessary. Mulch heavily and you should be okay. If you have knapweed or other hard to kill things you may have to resort to chemicals or constant weeding the first few years.

[MOgal]

I had a neglected area in the garden where the soil was already rich that was covered with weeds including some perennials and foxtail. I made a loop of rope tied at both ends of a piece of 1" x 6" board and used it under my foot at each step to pack down the weeds. Then I put a layer of corrugated cardboard over the area being sure it overlapped at the edges and finally mulched it to hold down the cardboard. To plant, I pushed the mulch aside and cut X where I wanted the seedlings. They took off and never looked back.

[Paquebot]

Black plastic won't have time to solarize the soil and is best suited to be a hotel for voles. Besides, clear plastic is best for solarizing. If you have a rotary lawn mower, and there's nothing bigger than brambles, mower it off as if it's a lawn. Then spread your manure and straw mix and till it in. Plant everything and then either figure on becoming friends with a good sharp hoe or mulch heavy between the rows.

Martin

[motdaugrnds]

I like letting animals help with work around here; so I would agree with the suggestions of turning a flock of chickens (even geese) into that area. Then you can turn them into chicken pot pie afterwards.