Official TEG Poll: What is your garden style?

[rainey]

My garden is small -- probably considerably less than a 1/4 acre in cultivation and the front yard is just boring lawn.

My garden started with lousy soil -- adobe clay to be specific but I've composted and brought planting beds up to arable.

My garden is in a hot dry climate with several years of drought.

My garden has both intense sunlight and deep shade and, of course, mixed light.

My garden is in a relatively urban area -- an outlying neighborhood of Los Angeles.

My garden is mixed flowers/shrubs/veggies and in a number of beds they all co-exist.

My garden is a feeding ground for wild animals I never see. There are a number of things I just don't even try to plant anymore because they're gone overnight.

My garden is too often neglected. I swear if it weren't for volunteers and what overwinters I'd never get around to getting it restarted in the Spring.

 

[Nyboy]

What part of LA are you in ? Had family go from Hollywood hills to Hancock park to Beverly hills. The grounds in BH where a gardeners dream

 

[rainey]

I am now in Woodland Hills. Previously in North Hollywood and the difference in the soil was tremendous. In NH all I had to do was stick a plant in the ground and walk away. I had clumps of gerberas that were 2' in diameter. WH is truly the land of the $10 hole, if you know that bit of garden wisdom (put your $2 plant in a hole with $10 in amendments).

But composting (15 years of it!) has made a tremendous difference in my flower and veggie beds. Thank god!!!

PS Just saw that you're in Lagrange. Before I moved to CA I was from Poughkeepsie.

 

[R3bauer]

My garden is 3 raised beds. 5ft wide and 10ft long.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

My garden is super lush and green......with grass! We've added so many critters to the farm it's made it hard for me to find the time to get in and weed it out. So next year it will be treated wood with deep lining, compost and good rich soil and hopefully i will be able to keep the weeds out! The flowers.....? I would love for it to be more"wild_ looking..... However it just looks like weird plants BC the weeds took over and grew crazy tall....

 

[flowerbug]

it's hard to do a lot of animals and a lot of gardens.

my advice is to start small and fence the garden well to keep the animals out, but then you can graze the animals around the edges so they can keep the grass and weeds down.

if you put down a mulched pathway around the edge of the garden then also put an edge down into the ground far enough along the edge of the pathway and that will keep the weeds from invading the garden space.

but with any new garden you will have to weed it or smother the existing weeds. there's no work-free garden, but chickens and piggies can be used to clear and stir the soil for planting.

 

[flowerbug]

we have many different kinds of gardens (about an acre's worth). none of it was really planned so it's been fun and a lot of work to go back and fix problems.

the lawn/grassy area is almost all gone now. one large more wild chaotic garden is temporarily being mowed until i can get back to it and get the fencing improved. the other large chaotic garden is being weeded now (finally!).

most of the veggie gardens are inside a fenced area but the fencing isn't all that great so sometimes rabbits and groundhogs still get in there and also we have other animals which can get in there (chipmunks, raccoons). we have deer in any gardens outside the fences. i'm adding more fence as soon as i can to discourage them, but it will not be all enclosed for a few years.

plenty of details and pictures on the website:

http://www.anthive.com/

 

[baymule]

@MatthewsHomestead please put your general location on your avatar, I am about to tell you how to work on the weed problem, but it might not work if you are in a very cold climate.

I put pigs in the garden the first winter and took them out the first of March. They rooted up LOTS of roots and green briar bulbs. I also turn the sheep in the garden in the fall when we are done. I get you on the weeds. Right now it is 102* and I don't care, but the weeds are taking off! I'm babying the tomatoes, corn, peas, cucumbers and 2nd planting of zucchini, trying to keep them watered and alive. This heat acts like fertilizer to the darn weeds!

You could put a couple of feeder pigs in your garden over the winter, taking them out about a month before you plant. During that month, run chickens in the garden to scratch up and eat weed seeds. You will still have weeds, but the livestock really helps. We bought feeder pigs from a family in February this year that had let them run in the garden all winter. The lady told us that she does it every winter and it cuts down on the weeds.

We have about half the garden laid over with cardboard and wood chip mulch. It has done a lot to smother the weeds.

 

[so lucky]

If you find your garden awash in weeds and grass this time of year, there is still time to put down cardboard or newspaper in the paths and put straw or hay or grass clippings or pine needles on top. You can take the weed eater in the garden and mow the weeds down as far as you can. Then cover with cardboard. I would advise watering very thoroughly after you do this, or the first little breeze will blow everything to the next county.

 

[baymule]

I have mowed the garden rows before...…..