It's Weed Season On Misty Acre

Many folks have three or four seasons in the year.  Some like Florida have only two.  I have five, if you want to call them that.

We have Summer, Fall, Winter, Early Spring, Weed Season and Summer.  Weed season lasts about a month.  One year we filled three large contractor's trash bags full of weeds.  That was just from the gardens and not the lawn.  It was crazy, hard and tiring.  It is all uphill and you use the muscles in the back of your legs.  It makes you wonder how your leg muscles can hurt so much after doing that.  Just sit down for an hour and then get up and try doing that gain.  I have heard that even the fittest people have problems with this.  Though they might not for as long as those of us that have a more sedentery style of life.  

Some weeds are pretty while some take over anything they can grow on.  I have many different types of those and then this year we have yet another kind of weed.  Though it is pretty and has very petite flowers on it, it has take over most of the yard and down into the woods.  I have never seen this weed before.  I surmise that some bird brought it into the yard as it spreads seeds from far and wide around these parts.  I am not sure I want to get rid of it, and I don't use chemicals anymore.  It is pretty.  I don't know how long it will be here before dying down.



We have another one that we have that is a very persistent weed.  It has taken years of pulling to gain some kind of control of it.  It gets really tiny white flowers on it and the root system is almost non existent.  I asked around and someone finally told me that this plant is a Galium aparine. The many names for this plant are: cleavers, clivers, goosegrass, catchweed, stickyweed, robin-run-the-hedge, sticky willy, sticky willow, sticky geordies, velcro weed, and grip grass. It is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae.  There are many herbal uses for this plant but I still call it a weed.  It sticks to everything.  Native people and those who use natural forms of medicines use this to treat burns and insect bit and also uuse it as a strainer for milk.  

Then we have this plant that seems to grow in the dark like under the crawlspace and in the wooded areas and right out in the sun.  I have no idea what it is.  I thought it to be some kind of mushroom thing, but when I touched it the plant was more woody that mushroomy.  If you know what it is please tell me.

We also have, I think it is, Monkshead.  I am not totally sure if that is what it is called but it also likes to grow everywhere and it is very pretty.

Meanwhile We have already gotten our raised gardens prepped and planted and covered and trellised.  This year I have planted Lettuce (Bibb and Buttercrunch), Spinach, Three colors of Bush Beans (Purple, Yellow and Green), Summer Squash, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Patio Corn and Cucumbers.  A few beans have come up, some Cucumbers and the Lettuce and Spinach.  We are still waiting for the rest.  It is still early though and we have had some cool, wet days.  I am not sure about the corn though becasue it doesn't like the cooler temps but I had tried them in pots on the patio last year and they didn't do so well.  I planted them straight in the ground this year.

These are my gardens and how they are progressing.  

How does your garden grow?

Black Walnut Tree Poison and Garden Activites Late April to Early May

Did you know that the Black Walnut Tree produces a chemical that is very toxic to some vegetable plants?  I did not know this until I was reading my Gardening Catalog for the month of May.

The trees produce a chemical called "juglone" into the soil up to 50 feet surrounding it.  It will make your tomatoes yellow and possibly causing their death.  Other plants that are affected by this chemical are:

• Eggplant
• Peppers 
• Blackberry 
• Blueberry 
• Apple trees may be injured or killed within one to two months of growth within the root zone of these trees.
• Cabbage
• Potato

Plants that are tolerant of this toxic tree are:

Squashes 

Melons 

Beans 

Carrots 

Corn

The video below shows you how to identify what a Black Walnut Tree looks like.

Garden Activities for the last week of April and into the first 2 weeks of May are:

• April 24 through the 30th, Plant summer bulbs.  It is also National Arbor Day in the USA.
• April 25, It is time to apply some pre-emergent weed control.
• April 27, Spray Fruit Trees after petals fall.
• April 29, Seed your parsley in your gardens.
• May 1, Transplant your onions and plant your fingerling potatoes.
• May 3, is the full moon and legend and lore says that it is good to plant things around this time.
• The week of May 4 through May 9, seed your Lettuce, Winter Squash and Cucumbers, Celery and Sweet Corn.  You can also plant your Tomato seedlings.  Plant your Bok Choy at this time too.

Happy Gardening!

© Debra K. Allen a.k.a Lady Guinevere

I researched and wrote this article. Please do not copy and paste any part of this article, picture included for your own use. I will find you and report you for stealing.  It is my right to change any information therein at any time and/or change the location of my article.