weeds in garden

[thingy]

Well,,frank,,6-8 ft space between rows???,,,did you know,,,,you can accomplish same mission narrowing that space up to accomadate a walk behind tiller???? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[thingy]

Course,,,,if you want to raise a half acre garden in 1-2 acres,,,and don't want to walk behind a tiller,,,,maybe you got something there?? I can run my 8 hp troybuilt horse just as fast down a row weeding,,as I can my tractor,,,maybe faster,,time you turn the tractor around anyways,,,,but to each his own,,,,now,,maybe,,,,,,if your rows were say,,2-300 yds long,,now in that case,,,I KNOW you got something,,,,thingy

 

[MossRoad]

I go out in my garden just about every evening and poke around pulling weeds and straightening up for about 10 minutes. That's all it takes. I use my fingers between sensitive plants and a small, triangular hoe between close rows. I also like claw type thingy that I have. About 4-5 fingers on a long handle. I can loosen soil about 3-4 inches deep with it by raking back and forth. I also like to turn it 90 degrees and use one finger sideways to slip under weed roots and rip them out. Between those two tools and my hands, that's all that's required for weeding. We have a tiller that we use to prep very early in the season and I water the garden a lot, even before crops are planted so that weed seeds germinate and I can kill them before they get established. If it is nice tomorrow, I will take some pictures of the tools and our garden.

 

[EastTexFrank]

</font><font color="blueclass=small">( <font color="blue"> you can accomplish same mission narrowing that space up to accomadate a walk behind tiller </font> )</font>

Yup, done that too. The trouble is that my walk-behind is a 25+ year old Troybilt monster and turning and maneuvering that sucker around is a major workout. If I'm over at the farm, I sometimes borrow my S-I-L's 14" Craftsman but using either one is a lot harder work that sitting in that tractor seat, especially when it's close to a 100 degrees out. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif 6' - 8' between rows lets the veggies grow up and out, depending on what they are, and still gives me enough room to get between them with the tractor and tiller. Since space for a garden isn't really an issue, we usually give away at least 1/2 of what we grow anyway, I'm just lazy enough to do it the easiest way possible.

 

[thingy]

Frank,,,well,,,I guess its true what they say,,,everything is bigger in Texas,,,but did you know,,,the Alamo..doesn't have a basement??,,,I learned that on a peewee herman movie,,,I got one of those older,[though not as old as yours],troy built 8 h.p. tillers too,,man its been a good un in last 11 or so years,,,,thingy

 

[SPIKER]

I have one of the troybuilt rear tine tillers I think 5hp from about 84 or so. it still rus but I had to work on it a lot, it WAS my sisters and is really the only thing I ended up with when she passsed. I was onlyone who was dumb enough ti USE it even when she was alive that thing seems to get a mind to drag you onto you're face every few steps. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif though at my farm the dirt is kept tilled enough so it runs well, I weed a lot but I think MIKE aka PINERIDGE lives a bit too close as every thing I seem to grow dissapears about the time it is ready to eat /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif it is him or the deer or the turkeys not saying MIKE is a turkey by you knw /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif lol hehehe

anyhow I tilled between the onions & taters this weekend and ran it down for an extra row of taters & hilled it up, I need a HOE that is longer though as I have to step into the freash tilled dirt to get far enough into the other side of the row. and when I come back down to hill the other side it is harder form foot prints? any soultions form you all???

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gifMarkM /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[PineRidge]

Me raid your veggie garden, nawwww. Maybe if you were a bit closer to me I might. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I was out using the Troy Horse today myself to cultivate between the corn thats already up. I then threw some clover down to help keep the weeds at bay. I think the Troy takes a lot of the work out of the garden IMO.

 

[BlueRidge]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
Second, it's your garden. leave all the chemicals possible alone. If you want to eat stuff laced with all types of poisons, just go down to the local grocery. )</font>

Amen! A lot less flavor, but the chemicals make up for that, right? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif


You might want to try corn gluten pre-emergent. It's completely non-toxic - you can eat the stuff, and it works.

I don't know how much it would cost on a large garden, though. There's a list of licensees on that site, most of whom sell online.

 

[sassafraspete]

I am with Egon on this one...there is no substitute for good ole hand weeding and just sweating it out....that is after you till out the middles. If you cut them with a hoe, they just grow back....you need to get to the root of the matter. If you have prepared your soil with a lot of organic matter, weeds will pull easily. I agree with Moss...get it under control, then spend a little time each day. Or....you could go into gardening with your siblings....let them do all the weeding work, then show up to pick the harvest. This is what my older brother use to do to us younger brothers until we finally wised up. Of course, we were not too smart , as it took us several years to figure that out. Or...if you have kids....use them as slaves. I think that is what my dad did. He didn't seem to have any moral issues with making us pull weeds.

All the other advice is good. Mulch, etc. If you have the space (eg truck patch) and tractor...a one row cultivator with 6 tines is a good investment. You can pick one up for under $200. You can can vary the depth of the cultivator and the speed of your tractor, to throw dirt over small weeds and hill your crops at the same time. You would also be amazed at how the plants respond to the cultivator. Loosening the soil deep did wonders for our corn and potatoes. We also used the cultivator to cover our potatoes when we planted them. We would make rows with a plow (like a middle buster), put in our potatoes, then cover them with the cultivator. You had to be careful not to cover them too deep. Sure beat covering them with a hoe. To use the cultivator though, you have to figure out the spacing needed to be able to get your tractor through the rows after the crops get some size on them. It also helps to have straight rows.

sassafraspete

 

[thingy]

Well,,,spiker,,,they are big and heavy,,[the older ones anyways,],,,but my wife has used this one,,not much,,but enough times that I know she can do it to say,,,if you can't handle a 8 hp troy built,,,than........turning them around is easy,,just pick up on handles,,thus getting tines out of ground,,,than spinning it around,,,than GENTLY lower back into ground,,takes me less time to do it than type it,,,,owners manual don't say to do it that way,,,but...hoeing potatoes,,,,stepped on ground,,,,no,,don't know a method,,unless it would be tilling after each hoeing pass,,I know what you mean,,,I just hit it a little harder with hoe,,and when I'm tilling,,try and do a real good job so's I got plenty of loose dirt to rake up,,might go between each row 3-4 times,,depending on soil..........thingy