The Message Board

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 421 days ago

I'd try to remove as many weeds as possible because as soon as you start to fertilize the weeds will thrive well ahead of any vegetables. Murphy's law isn't it?

Horse manure is good but be careful here that it doesn't introduce more weeds, I've been caught this way myself. I use blood and bone dug in really well and then mulch with a very thick layer of straw. At the moment my vegetables are only four weeks old but so far the weeds are kept well under control by daily removal before they get a hold and everything is looking great.

What type of issue is there with rabbits? Are these pets or wild? I have a problem with scrub turkeys and possums so have completely enclosed my vegetable garden with mesh and star pickets.

Preparation of the soil here is the key to final results, so it may well be worth your while taking a sample to your local nursery to get a test carried out to see what you need to add.

What type of soil do you have?

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 421 days ago

You could try the No-Dig garden method. By layering newspaper, mulch, straw etc you build up your bed and the weeds die under it all. There is lots of info on no-dig gardening on the net.

As Sherpa says, only fencing your vegie area will keep the rabits away.

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 421 days ago

Thankyou both for great advice. I will chase the no dig garden method too.

The soil is sandy loam and can seem quite resistant to water draining through it. Unless it has been ploughed, after heavy rain you would not get bogged. They clay is about 30 to 40 cms below this surface.

The concern is wild rabbits, not that there seems to be all that many at the moment I am sure they are around.

I might line the beds with chicken wire too.

Thanks

Novice vege grower.

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 420 days ago

I used to use newspaper until i realised that I was actually using something with solvents and inks and bleaches etc and these poisons were going into my lovely organic veges. Straw, Lucerne and other such green manure crops are good, all you are really trying to do is mulch to prevent weeds. There are lots of great sites and books etc about no dig gardening to give you some ideas, but just use good old not so common sense and tailor it to suit your needs. Have fun.
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HeatherM

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 415 days ago

I have a cape weed problem too. I've opted to dig out the weeds from my new garden bed areas. Once the cape weed starts to come back up again be sure to weed them out asap - they have a terrible habit of flowering and setting seed no matter what size they are, and they will grow back if only broken off at the base of the stem. This year I have some old garden beds that needed weeding, the cape weed has already dried out and dropped seeds, I'm going to just dig these beds in and use the cape weed and other grasses as green manure. I'm assuming the seeds prefer to come up from the surface only so most of the seeds will be killed by turning them into the soil. It won't make much of a difference to my garden either way because seeds will just blow in from the surrounding grassed areas anyway. Next cape weed season I'll have to be a bit more dilligent at clearing them out of the garden before they go to seed.

We have rabbits in our area, our dogs keep them at bay. No - the dogs aren't fast enough to catch them - but occasionally they've put up a good chase. Mostly though the dogs just bark.
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can).

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 280 days ago

blood and bone and sugar cane mulch mixed with a good quility organic soil will do the trick. maybe use a weed mat? that may stop weeds and pile vegie patch high, maybe use some sort of retaining?
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beck

RE: Preparing the vege beds

Posted 264 days ago

This may sound strange, I used to have a pet rabbit that wandered the backyard all day. As you could expect it did love to munch on all my garden plants. A friend told me to spread blood and bone around generously on the gardens that I did not want the rabbit to get to. I did this and it worked, for over 4 years that was the only thing I had to do to keep him away. The plants loved it too.