[1vertical]

I put down black fabric....the type they use on the highway road bases...thick heavy poly tight weave....
I use it to cover my raised garden in the winter to keep weed seed from blowing into the zone. 
That works ....it gets pulled up every year.  OTOH....I put same down as a barrier all around the house
trying to do a xeriscape thing.  I now have native grass that has completely  grown on top of the
weed barrier because it did NOT get pulled up every year and so to answer your question @pinnah, it may
or may not work, depends upon your application.  Stuff likes to grow on top of it, now if I desire to
change the technology...what a mess I have to undo the grown over fabric.

[1vertical]

Anyway, great looking harvest Amanda.

Huh, I thought I had missed the photos but apparently others can see....
How come I can see Vertical1 photos but not Amandas?

I asked this same question in Admin

[AmandaK]

Anyway, great looking harvest Amanda.

Huh, I thought I had missed the photos but apparently others can see....
How come I can see Vertical1 photos but not Amandas?

I asked this same question in Admin

They're hosted from Google Photos. Not sure why some can see them and others can't.

[kmccaf]

I've also been putting down black mulch to kill the grass off, so that I can triple the size of the garden next year. Pulling the tomatoes today. Always a sad time for me.

We just had a freeze - finally - and I pulled my tomatoes as well.  End of October for maters is really strange but wow it has been a nice autumn.

Tell me about the black mulch...what is it and does it really work?

The black mulch is just black plastic. I lay it over the garden, pin it down, and then bury the edges making it totally immobile. Then I just put holes in where I want to plant things. This keeps the area completely weed free,  and heats the soil. Important for me is preventing soil from splashing onto my plants when it rains, which is where a lot of diseases stem from. You can buy colors other than black, which are supposed to do various things like metallic silver reflects light in a way that keeps insects away, while also reflecting light into the canopy of the plant spurring more growth. As opposed to landscape fabric, water cannot get in through it, so it works really well with a drip setup. I used the black mulch a little bit this year on my brambles and ribes, and saw these benefits right away. Having seen quite a few  commercial setups this year that use black mulch, I will say it works quite well.

I bought mine from johnny's:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-9195-black-mulch-4-x-100-smooth.aspx

[Slowbrew]

Anyway, great looking harvest Amanda.

Huh, I thought I had missed the photos but apparently others can see....
How come I can see Vertical1 photos but not Amandas?

I asked this same question in Admin

They're hosted from Google Photos. Not sure why some can see them and others can't.

At my work I can't see the photos Amanda posts because the company I work for blocks most Google App stuff.  The search engine and Maps are allowed but not Gmail or Goggle Photo and stuff like that. 

I can see the pictures fine at home or on my phone.

Paul

[AmandaK]

Anyway, great looking harvest Amanda.

Huh, I thought I had missed the photos but apparently others can see....
How come I can see Vertical1 photos but not Amandas?

I asked this same question in Admin

They're hosted from Google Photos. Not sure why some can see them and others can't.

At my work I can't see the photos Amanda posts because the company I work for blocks most Google App stuff.  The search engine and Maps are allowed but not Gmail or Goggle Photo and stuff like that. 

I can see the pictures fine at home or on my phone.

Paul

Can you guys see imgur? I'll just host them there if so.

[1vertical]

I don't know amanda, give us a sample to try....but I am a member of the
google thing and use their apps and just don't get it....other than my old dino puter.

[euge]

I had a hard time this year with a drought and pests. So dry weeds really weren't an issue but I'm putting down a barrier this spring and hopefully a proper drip system. It was a real PITA watering twice a day and leaving for more than one day was risky.

[kmccaf]

That's a real drag, Euge. Drip irrigation and some black mulch would help a lot with pests and water needs.

My cover crops on the field are still growing as we haven't had a sustained frost yet. Which is great cause that hairy vetch is putting in a ton of nitrogen, and the oilseed radishes must be four or more feet long at this point. I find this super spooky though. It will be 60 F outside tomorrow.

We finally got our tractor and attachments last week though. It only took four months after ordering, but I am going to have fun come spring.

[erockrph]

That's a real drag, Euge. Drip irrigation and some black mulch would help a lot with pests and water needs.

My cover crops on the field are still growing as we haven't had a sustained frost yet. Which is great cause that hairy vetch is putting in a ton of nitrogen, and the oilseed radishes must be four or more feet long at this point. I find this super spooky though. It will be 60 F outside tomorrow.

We finally got our tractor and attachments last week though. It only took four months after ordering, but I am going to have fun come spring.

Do you till under the vetch? I planted some a few years ago in a spot where I wanted to expand my garden. It didn't work (I have really sandy soil and it did poorly), but what was able to grow has started spreading a bit. I wouldn't quite call it a weed at this point, but does seem a bit invasive.

[kmccaf]

Do you till under the vetch? I planted some a few years ago in a spot where I wanted to expand my garden. It didn't work (I have really sandy soil and it did poorly), but what was able to grow has started spreading a bit. I wouldn't quite call it a weed at this point, but does seem a bit invasive.

That is a problem with vetch. Tilling it under wouldn't be a good idea, as it would just plant more seed. Unless you spread black plastic mulch over the tilled area, which would kill it quite well. The seeds would still be viable for quite a while though. My plan is to cut it down with the sickle bar, the use the flame weeder on it. Then plant something else right away. I may use black mulch after flame weeding as well. Otherwise, 2,4-d will do the job.

[pinnah]

Sorry to hear Euge.  On the positive side, you only have a little time to wait and can start in again!

I just packaged 35 pounds of sauerkraut - all grown in the garden.
Thanks for the help.

There is a pretty nice cornice going on the compost pile....
Happy New Year gardeners.

[euge]

I'm slightly sore: hauled in a yard of rich sandy garden soil and topped off 3 rickety beds. A full bed-load that took 6 trips in the wheelbarrow. Picked up one of those giant blue 2-wheeled barrows at lowes on sale- $109 last spring. Would have been 10 loads in a regular wheelbarrow.

Have my onion sets and carrot seeds. Hopefully I can get some romas in the ground in the next couple weeks.

[pete b]

I'm slightly sore: hauled in a yard of rich sandy garden soil and topped off 3 rickety beds. A full bed-load that took 6 trips in the wheelbarrow. Picked up one of those giant blue 2-wheeled barrows at lowes on sale- $109 last spring. Would have been 10 loads in a regular wheelbarrow.

Have my onion sets and carrot seeds. Hopefully I can get some romas in the ground in the next couple weeks.

3 months until its safe to plant tomatoes here. I do have a bulk order pick up coming up soon though that a i get in on with my Northeast Organic Farmers Association membership. lots of love to the soil this year: 150# composted chicken manure, 50# gypsum, 100# lime, 50# kelp meal, 50#blood meal, 50# greensand and more. also putting in a drip irrigation system this year.

[troybinso]

I'm slightly sore: hauled in a yard of rich sandy garden soil and topped off 3 rickety beds. A full bed-load that took 6 trips in the wheelbarrow. Picked up one of those giant blue 2-wheeled barrows at lowes on sale- $109 last spring. Would have been 10 loads in a regular wheelbarrow.

Have my onion sets and carrot seeds. Hopefully I can get some romas in the ground in the next couple weeks.

Why bother with romas? The ones in the store taste pretty good. I like to focus tomato planting on good slicing tomatoes you can eat raw. Those are the kinds that just don't make it to the grocery store.