Advice for clearing pasture for garden

ncmtngal · #1 09/24/12, 07:36 AM

Howdy,

This spring we plowed up about an acre of thick pasture for a large garden. While half of the garden got a fair amount of planting, weeding, etc., the other half was completely taken over with a multitude of thick, crazy weeds.

I'd like to be able to use that other half next spring and need advice on what I can use to help tame those weeds! Would landscaping cloth be a good idea? Put it on now and let it sit for six or seven months?

Any other ideas?

Thanks so much!!!!!

Kerri in Western North Carolina

greg_n_ga · #2 09/24/12, 07:41 AM

You can plow it back up after a bush hoggin'. Should be okie dokie. You can do that I suppose, depending on where you are and iffin' your weather is cool enough to prevent them from coming back. Coure you would have to plow/harrow it again in the spring.

OH......and Welcome to Homesteadin' !! Looks like your first post but have been around a while !!

ncmtngal · #3 09/24/12, 07:45 AM

Thanks Greg!

We don't have a tractor yet and have to hire someone to plow it. You're saying that's a good thing to do in the fall before the ground freezes? That will help with weeds next spring/summer.
I know this is a pretty basic question but we're pretty new to all this and still have a lot to learn!

Thanks Again for the welcome!
Kerri

TnAndy · #4 09/24/12, 07:55 AM

I'm in your same area, and what I do is plow everything under about Labor day.....then leave it alone a month or so for the weed seed to start again....then plow it again, and disc or rotor till it fine, about the last of Sept, and plant my winter cover crop of wheat or rye. Sow the cover crop THICK, and it goes a long way toward choking out any weed that tries to compete.

Then plow the cover crop under about 1st of March, getting ready for potato planting. The cover will be about 6" or so tall at that point. Makes a good "green" manure.

ncmtngal · #5 09/24/12, 08:00 AM

Thanks Andy!

So, is it too late for me to follow those instructions? If not, when would it be too late? I will need to arrange for the "plow man" to come over.

We do have a rear tine tiller. I assume that won't go deep enough to tackle this job? We've already bush hogged it.

Big Dave · #6 09/24/12, 08:08 AM

Lots of work there. I do not plow. I do plant clover and or mustard for a cover crop. It works for me. It for some reason will not let unwanted grasses come up. at least it works here. Welcome to the forum ncmtngal.

rambler · #7 09/24/12, 08:15 AM

Up here in the north, you plow in the fall, do light tillage in the spring, and to control a weed flush you postpone planting a little bit, wait for that first flush of weeds to sprout, and then do light tillage again. That extra week and killing the weed sprouts off can really help, tho it does delay your planting.

Then the key is to never let the weeds go to seed - or you have a worse mess the following years. Sounds like you might have a lot of seeds to deal with?

Tillage now, hope some seeds sprout or rot before spring, tillage in spring, let things sprout, tillage again....

Hope for rains at the right times to help with the weed sprouting.

Your tiller can do the job, if you are up for the work yourself.

Remember every time you tll real deep, you are turning up old seeds that will want to take over, you must control them early to keep them from getting out of control. Your tiller will not go as deep as a plow, so you will eventually get the weeds knocked down and not have as bad a problem - IF you keep on top of things.

--->Paul

Callieslamb · #8 09/24/12, 08:20 AM

A lot depends on the weeds. Many can come up through ground cover cloth. I'd till it now. I'd till it again every 2 weeks to a month until the weather stops you from doing it. Everytime I saw something green poking up- I'd till it. Not deeply- more like cultivating the soil. I'd plant clover or vetch or annual rye grass that will help suppress some weeds over your winter. I'd plant clover in spaces that weren't going to be used for a season. Next spring, I'd till it again and again before planting. THEN, I'd use cardboard, grass clippings, straw- what ever I could find to mulch and help with the weeds. Nothing is going to completely get rid of them. Ever. If you're going to have an acre worth of garden planted every year, a tiller would be a good investment.

I work on the idea that if you cultivate the soil every 10 days, the weeds will never get a start. I usually cultivate with a 3-pronged garden rake or winged weeder. Every day, I cultivate some part of the garden, trying to get it all done at least once a week. So far, I've not accomplished this the entire season and the weeds do get away from me. But when I do, the garden looks great.

dsljim · #9 09/24/12, 09:06 AM

Buckwheat works great, it chokes out weeds, and puts something in the soil that prevents new ones from growing, makes great green manure, and wild turkeys love it. Get yourself a good tiller, BCS or troybilt, BCS made diesels and can be used for lots of other jobs.

ronbre · #10 09/24/12, 10:04 AM

if you would like to go in a different direction you might check out permaculture and hugelkulture ..i suggest reading a book called Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway..and maybe check out the forums at Permies: a big crowd of permaculture goofballs for some other ideas

geo in mi · #11 09/24/12, 10:23 AM

The simple answer is that any soil will have weed seeds and perennial weeds already in it, pasture or not.......Plowing or tilling it for garden crops will leave the soil open for the weed and grass seeds to germinate. Leaving a plowed section exposed with no effort to eliminate the weeds will allow them to germinate, grow, and reproduce seeds, thus starting the cycle all over again.

You'll have to do with the other half what you did with the current, cultivated half---plow it or till it, tend it and weed it, by hoeing, hand weeding, mulching, to intervene in Nature's process. (Or, simply, start all over....) When you plow or till it won't make that much difference in the results until you have intervened for many, many seasons--and sometimes it may get away from you, as it does with many of us--and the rest of them are liars.....

geo

bruce2288 · #12 09/24/12, 02:33 PM

If it fenced or feasible, buy two hogs, they plow and eat every root and weed in there plus fertilize it.

RonM · #13 09/24/12, 02:40 PM

It is not too late to plant wheat or rye for a cover crop, my gang will soonn start planting 2000 acres of wheat ,probably after Oct 1.....

FarmboyBill · #14 09/24/12, 09:48 PM

Save your tiller for its main purpose. Tilling a worked up garden, NOT trying to hog down weeds as tall im guessing as you are.Ive got a 48 H Farmall I paid $400 for, and it runs like a top. Ive got steel wheel 2 bottom plows ive paid $75 for. Look around. your gonna need a tractor someday, so might as well get it now and a plow and do your own work. Youll be prouder no matter the mess you make of it, and you wont wear your tiller out.

OR are you the type that has to wear their tiller out THEN think about buying a tractor and plow,

OR the type that keeps replacing tillers and so thinks they cant afford a tractor.

Im hoping your smarter than those types.

ncmtngal · #15 09/25/12, 07:56 AM

Thanks everyone for your varied and excellent advice. I guess what I most needed to hear is that this project is going to take hard work, time and patience!

I certianly do wish I could get a couple of hogs to do the work for me. Maybe I'll look into that further.

Thanks Again!

fantasymaker · #16 09/25/12, 08:42 AM

BURN BABY BURN!
LOL sorry couldnt help it but burning that section will help kill of a LOT of the weed seed and reduce some of the heaveyer stalked weeds.

Danaus29 · #17 09/25/12, 02:48 PM

Got to agree, if you can, burn it off. Then plow and cover crop.

You might be good for planting a cover crop as late as mid October, depending on the temps and the crop.

A deer forage mix with a lot of brassicas would be a good cool weather cover.

Silvercreek Farmer · #18 09/25/12, 04:26 PM

Howdy neighbor! I vote for cover crops. I'm trying out austrian winter peas this year. I just scalped the weeds with the mower then sowed the peas without any tillage. The summer annuals are out of gas this time of year and I'm betting the peas will do just fine. Come spring I'll mow the peas and let the pea mulch supress the weeds long enough for my vegetables to get a head start.

Callieslamb · #19 09/25/12, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Save your tiller for its main purpose. Tilling a worked up garden, NOT trying to hog down weeds as tall im guessing as you are..................

...some of us mow it before we till. Mow it as short as you can then till it. A good tiller with tines that rotate backwards has worked well for us. I've never had a garden spot plowed. I admit to never having gardened where there are a lot of rocks either however. It works if you spray round-up first even better....but you didn't hear me say the "R" word.

I thought of something else. The first time we made pasture into a garden, we rented a sod cutter. We placed the strips we cut on top of each other 3-4 tall, covered it with black plastic and let it decompose. We used that compost to fill the raised beds we built. We still had trouble with weeds, but we'd like to think all that work wasn't for nothing. Lifting rolls of cut sod was back breaking work.