flowerbug
Garden Master
yes, you have to be persistent about it. i dug them out of a garden to make the process go faster but it still took a few years to get rid of them.
What Did You Do In The Garden?
- Thread starter digitS'
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yes, you have to be persistent about it. i dug them out of a garden to make the process go faster but it still took a few years to get rid of them.
Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
I think in our gardens we tend to stay on top of them, which helps. My friend and I are trying to help out a neighbour who has solid horsetails in lousy dirt. We are on year three of amending the soil, and that is definitely making a difference. We work together to try to gently lift them out without snapping off the root, which in this location is a challenge. The horsetails have been there for more than thirty years, and those roots run deep. Persistence does pay off though. We are definitely seeing a big improvement from year to year.
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digitS'
Garden Master
Isn't that nice of you and your friend,
helping another
with their gardening problems?
Yes, it is!
Steve
helping another
with their gardening problems?Yes, it is!
Steve
- Thread starter
- #6,194
digitS'
Garden Master
Dug about 12 gallons of soil out of the 4 sq ft vestibule for the hoop house. So much mud had accumulated over the years and I'd just pack it down walking on it. Now, the door can fully open.
Tacked down the film completely on the window frame, drove in a support for the frame to stand completely vertical and installed the window. The window needs replacing before it must be opened and closed too many times but that is possible since the same size window was on the shed-attached hoop house that hasn't been set up for about 7 years. I miss that neighbor who volunteered his garden to our enterprise. That was the first time I met him.
I moved 6 flats of pak choi, cabbage, other greens, etc. into the hoop house. The expectation is that they can be transplanted into the beds next week if the forecast for mid April looks good. The flats will have to be moved back into the greenhouse if instead we have much of a cold spell. Or, onto the utility room floor but I'd rather not do that. No heater has been used in the greenhouse so far but I even had to do some heating in the 2 hoop houses back in the old days. I don't expect needing to do any heating this year.
It rained while I was out there but that was while I had the plastic film overhead. Feels good to be close to the garden beds growing season. Still, a lot of work has to be done in the actual outdoors.
Tacked down the film completely on the window frame, drove in a support for the frame to stand completely vertical and installed the window. The window needs replacing before it must be opened and closed too many times but that is possible since the same size window was on the shed-attached hoop house that hasn't been set up for about 7 years. I miss that neighbor who volunteered his garden to our enterprise. That was the first time I met him.
I moved 6 flats of pak choi, cabbage, other greens, etc. into the hoop house. The expectation is that they can be transplanted into the beds next week if the forecast for mid April looks good. The flats will have to be moved back into the greenhouse if instead we have much of a cold spell. Or, onto the utility room floor but I'd rather not do that. No heater has been used in the greenhouse so far but I even had to do some heating in the 2 hoop houses back in the old days. I don't expect needing to do any heating this year.
It rained while I was out there but that was while I had the plastic film overhead. Feels good to be close to the garden beds growing season. Still, a lot of work has to be done in the actual outdoors.
flowerbug
Garden Master
horsetail roots can run a long ways before surfacing - at the bottom of this project page you can see pictures of the area and how far those roots were going:I think in our gardens we tend to stay on top of them, which helps. My friend and I are trying to help out a neighbour who has solid horsetails in lousy dirt. We are on year three of amending the soil, and that is definitely making a difference. We work together to try to gently lift them out without snapping off the root, which in this location is a challenge. The horsetails have been there for more than thirty years, and those roots run deep. Persistence does pay off though. We are definitely seeing a big improvement from year to year.
flowerbug
Garden Master
i went out and took a few pictures of the water situation along the south edge and small drainage channel. overall things look pretty good.
of course once outside i found some things that the wind moved that needed to be put back, but then after a bit i noticed that some things had likely been moved before the winds so that means that Mom likely did it (nobody else would be out there doing that) and never even mentioned it to me (which is wise of her because...)... there's a reason why i call her the Gremlin.
the main thing i was checking on was how the end of The River Nile (aka The Delta) has held up with any flows that might have gone through there this past winter and the past few days. it's an old erosion gully that is gradually getting bigger and i need to fix it better (started on that last year).
i did check it out some weeks ago and saw some signs of water flowing down gaps in the chunks, but this time i didn't see any of that at all (which is good ). i just saw how the grass has been pushed over by the flows and how the longer quack grass that i put in there and let grow did catch a lot of debris and that was exactly why i left it alone. all looked to be running pretty clean (perfect!).
Mom will want to cut down the longer grass in there. i'll try to get her to leave it all alone. somewheres it will all be ok no matter what.
i have a lot of fixing to do to get that whole thing redone and to also use up a bunch of thorn bush debris that is now dead so it can be buried and that can help act as an anchor to hold clumps of dirt and grass in place. when dealing with erosion if you can work uphill to spread the flow out and to turn it into many smaller channels you can take away a lot of the energy of the flow and greatly reduce the problem or even eliminate it entirely (this is a link to the techniques i studied some years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyline_design)
of course once outside i found some things that the wind moved that needed to be put back, but then after a bit i noticed that some things had likely been moved before the winds so that means that Mom likely did it (nobody else would be out there doing that) and never even mentioned it to me (which is wise of her because...)... there's a reason why i call her the Gremlin.
the main thing i was checking on was how the end of The River Nile (aka The Delta) has held up with any flows that might have gone through there this past winter and the past few days. it's an old erosion gully that is gradually getting bigger and i need to fix it better (started on that last year).
i did check it out some weeks ago and saw some signs of water flowing down gaps in the chunks, but this time i didn't see any of that at all (which is good
). i just saw how the grass has been pushed over by the flows and how the longer quack grass that i put in there and let grow did catch a lot of debris and that was exactly why i left it alone. all looked to be running pretty clean (perfect!).Mom will want to cut down the longer grass in there. i'll try to get her to leave it all alone. somewheres it will all be ok no matter what.
i have a lot of fixing to do to get that whole thing redone and to also use up a bunch of thorn bush debris that is now dead so it can be buried and that can help act as an anchor to hold clumps of dirt and grass in place. when dealing with erosion if you can work uphill to spread the flow out and to turn it into many smaller channels you can take away a lot of the energy of the flow and greatly reduce the problem or even eliminate it entirely (this is a link to the techniques i studied some years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyline_design)
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ducks4you
Garden Master
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Pat yourself on the back for any progress. 
I noticed today that where youngest DD dumped from the stalls last winter, just inside the around the barn turnout, it is somewhat dry and seeds from their hay have sprouted.
Since I have extra hay this year, I am hoping to first till under any baby burdock, then dump hay on top to fill in in my south pasture. They don't get to go out there until June, anyway.
I noticed today that where youngest DD dumped from the stalls last winter, just inside the around the barn turnout, it is somewhat dry and seeds from their hay have sprouted.
Since I have extra hay this year, I am hoping to first till under any baby burdock, then dump hay on top to fill in in my south pasture. They don't get to go out there until June, anyway.
- Thread starter
- #6,198
digitS'
Garden Master
The utilization of former lawn as new garden space is continuing. First, lawngrass has to be removed. This should be a very suitable bed for sunlovers. The Kentucky Bluegrass has enjoyed it also and the sod is thick. It isn't very difficult to remove after the spading fork has loosened the top 4" except for the weight of all the soil that the grass roots are clinging to. I am moving it to a 2024 bed that received no additions that Spring and only the plant debris from its first year with veggies. Digging that bed out again to a depth of about 8-10 inches.
Two layers of sod, upside down — the soil addition isn't really misplaced but would be better left for the new bed. I think that it would be best for me to beat the stuffings out of it with the cultivator before moving the grass in the next wheel barrow loads. It will also limit how much excess grass there will be after that one bed has been freed of the resource. I don't want a separate new compost bin for all the excess grass sod, like in 2024. It makes good compost but space is at a premium for gardening use.
Why not bury it in the new bed? I doubt if I can dig down to 8" in the new ground without major effort. Digging to any real depth was a real problem last year and this new ground is beside where the tree grew that was taken out several years ago. Tree roots in rocky soil! No, the new bed will be a good location for compost and, fortunately, there's quite a lot in the old bins ready for the taking.
Two layers of sod, upside down — the soil addition isn't really misplaced but would be better left for the new bed. I think that it would be best for me to beat the stuffings out of it with the cultivator before moving the grass in the next wheel barrow loads. It will also limit how much excess grass there will be after that one bed has been freed of the resource. I don't want a separate new compost bin for all the excess grass sod, like in 2024. It makes good compost but space is at a premium for gardening use.
Why not bury it in the new bed? I doubt if I can dig down to 8" in the new ground without major effort. Digging to any real depth was a real problem last year and this new ground is beside where the tree grew that was taken out several years ago. Tree roots in rocky soil! No, the new bed will be a good location for compost and, fortunately, there's quite a lot in the old bins ready for the taking
.
Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
Good images of the horsetail root structure flowerbug. It's an interesting plant!horsetail roots can run a long ways before surfacing - at the bottom of this project page you can see pictures of the area and how far those roots were going:
flowerbug
Garden Master
it is, it is also a very ancient plant.
