Tools for Clearing the Garden

flowerbug

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@flowerbug They make great compost, but you need to slay them first. They also need further composting, the duration depends on on how long they were a zombie.

thank you (this may be needed for future reference...)... now for a real nightmare scenario, zombie deer, zombie wabbies, zombie groundhogs and zombie chipmunks... *shudder* *runs away* *stocks up on sulfuric acid and large containers*...
 

flowerbug

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Doesn't matter what your preferred method is, as LONG AS you clean up what you cleared. Otherwise weed seeds will sprout and you will have the same mess aGAIN in about a month.
I prefer a mower and a spade, myself.


for clearing a new garden area from sod i dig a pretty deep hole, slice the sod and
then bury it upside down a few layers, and then put a layer or two of cardboard over it (and or newspapers). not much will come back up through that (thistles and milkweed are pretty persistent, those roots i have to pick out by hand and leave exposed to the sun for a while to make sure they are dead).

if your garden area is being overrun by grasses this method can be repeated as many times as needed to get all the grass seeds down below the germination zone.

mulching with cardboard and wood chips or some other covering will greatly help reducing what does sprout in the future, but this will only last as long as the covering layers last and as soon as they make good material for starting seeds that land from the wind/air or seeds that get moved by ants/critters/wind/rain, shovel, etc. well, it's a good sign the materials are ready to be used in the soil itself and the layers can be renewed (two to five years).
 

flowerbug

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LOVE that cardboard!!! :love:love:love

i like that it's not hard to use and can usually find it for free or nearly free.

when i was able to shred it for use in the worm buckets they really liked it too as they had all those holes to hide in. i had a very inexpensive shredder that would handle thicker cardboard. it lasted about 5yrs before the gears went out of alignment and then it would no longer work at all. was so cheaply made that if you put it in reverse the shreddings would end up inside the case and would smother the electronics and made a real fire hazard. i can't believe it was sold...

the shredder i have now will do paper but i don't put cardboard through it. it cost me too much money to risk it. want it to last at least long enough to shred all my college papers and notes and stuff i have sitting in boxes waiting for me to get around to it again (winter project)...
 
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