Who else has trouble keeping up with their yard? I’ve stretched myself pretty thin over the last month or so and haven’t given much attention to weed-control. I’ve barely had time to pick/harvest.
And these pics don’t even feature the fruit bearing plants themselves which need cutting back. I finally got to half my hardy kiwi today and was surprised that it wasn’t worse than it was. I think it helped that I’ve pruned them repeatedly this year, so even a month-long break didn’t completely disfigure their structure. Just added a lot of long growth to trim off.
We’re just not putting the care into the yard, or even the veggie garden, that we used to. My wife figured out that if you don’t mow grass so much it won’t grow so much! And we don’t water as heavily as we once did, so that slows it down some. More mulch, fewer plants.
As for my little salad garden, it has been a weird year. The garlic was just OK, but the lettuce was great until the weather got hot, and the early spinach was fairly good. Harvested lots of kale, sugar snaps, and now I’m getting a few green beans (lousy germination this year). But my tomatoes have just sulked and moped, put on fruit but never sized up, chose not to grow and tended to get sick. But the weather was strange in the spring and it’s hard to say what’s going to happen next year.
My main gruoping of fruit trees used to be clean and weed free. Now weeds grow on mulch that I put on top of weed barrier sheets. My yard is half a size of yours but my weeds are as happy as yours.
Bob you are not alone.my yard looked like this. Some weeds I can pull off but the bumble bees like the flowers so I left them grow. These are dandelions, catnap, and other yellow flowered, purple flowered plants plus queen Anne’s lace…I much prefer my yard a bit grow with weeds and has bees, dragon fly, birds, butterfly…than boring grass lawn
Annie,
My yard is quite small. The ratio of weeds vs the rest of my yard is quite embarrassing.
I have lot of flowers and my neighbors all have flower gardens so I am not concerned about bees going hungry.
At one point, I thought weeds would deter squirrels from getting near my trees. Unfortunately, tall weeds do not deter groundhogs or raccoons which cause far more damage to my fruit.
@IL847 my thoughts exactly .!
As I have been paying closer attention to good pollinator / benefital insect habitat … Many plants that I used to think of as weeds, I now let ( encourage) to grow.
It looks unkept ( and is in many places ). to many people.
Just takes some explaining , that it is intentionally that way.
It is much better habitat.
I have come to really dislike " normal" mowed yards
I’m soooo glad others admitted to this! I just got through watering my young American persimmon trees that the crab grass is taking over…so essentially I watered the crab grass too. I’ve got jujubes, muscadines , figs, and pears ripening at the same time and I’m very overwhelmed!!! I think I’ve lost several blackberry canes and at this point I’m just thinking that they needed a good thinning anyway. It was very wet here until a month ago and now no rain so I’m trying to keep my asparagus alive in the mean time… need to mow where I’ve watered. Lol. Too much to do… but I’m not complaining!!!
I’ve got stacks of cardboard in the driveway and in the garage which I’ve been meaning to put down. Then, woodchips on top of that.
That depends on how much water you get. And some other factors as well. Part of my time issue is that I’ve been taking care of a number of yards. Some of them grow quite quickly- 7-10 day mowing. On the other hand, another yard went 26 days recently and still looked better than the fast growing one does at 10. The slow growing one is well drained and has lots of shade trees. Maybe the soil isn’t great either…
I’m afraid to guess how many of those I could fill up. But from the pics, I bet a lot of that could be taken care of by the mower. I let it do as much weeding for me as possible. The problem is in the beds and around the trees.
I don’t have much “boring grass” anyway. In my whole yard, I don’t think I have any grass wider than a 10’ strip. But, that means more work, not less, as cutting around everything takes much longer. Those strips of grass need to get cleared to make sure I can walk around without the grass tickling my chin
My permanent solution for weeds control at the end of my property was buying the cement boards for under $10 piece 4’X8’ from Home Depot and laying them under the fruit trees and open areas. Done. Just like a cement patio. No weeds forever!
I know some people try to kill it in their lawns, but I just view it as any other type of grass, The only problem is when it invades the mulch areas around trees. Then, it is hard to get out…
I don’t think I’ve seen cement board in 4’x8’ sheets. Normal drywall comes in 4’x8’ sections, but I don’t think that would last very well. Last time I got it, it was 3’x5’, for about $10. Do you use the 1/4" or 1/2" wide version?
How long has it lasted so far for you? I’d hate to put a lot down and have it break apart in a couple years. Even broken apart, it probably wouldn’t biodegrade away. Any issues with the plants not getting enough water?
My problem is it doesn’t understand where the lawn ends and the plant areas begin!!
It even gets into my potted plants and it’s really tough to pull out. I will say that if I see a bit of crunchy crab grass in my raised beds or pots I KNOW it time to water!!!
It’s too hot here to try to work on it in August!!! Very early in the morning and right before dark you can get by with it for a little while but that’s about it.
Bob, maybe it is 3’X5’ and 1/2 inch thick. It has been down there for 12 years and still firm like a cement patio. I used my reciprocate saw to cut a 12 inches round hole for the trunk of the tree.
I use cardboxes to help keep the weeds from growing out of control. I just got lazy, threw the boxes under the fruit plants so I don’t have to work so hard😂
, figs, and pears ripening at the same time and I’m very overwhelmed!!! I think I’ve lost several blackberry canes and at this point I’m just thinking that they needed a good thinning anyway. It was very wet here until a month ago and now no rain so I’m trying to keep my asparagus alive in the mean time… need to mow where I’ve watered. Lol. Too much to do… but I’m not complaining!!!
