Overgrowth and Weeds!

This year the weeds have been bonkers! Between the rain, the rain, and more rain this season, it has been hard to keep up with the growth. “Growth,” meaning the overgrown veggies, fruit, herbs, and WEEDS!

Weed Control

The weeds seem to be completely out of control this year. The weeds are controlling me more than me controlling them. In the garden, I always pull weeds by hand. I do not like to use any chemicals near anything that I will consume. This includes insecticides and pesticides. However, along the yard fence line and in the driveway, I use my special concoction added to my sprayer:

1 bottle of BioAdvanced Brush Killer Plus

Two bottles of Ortho GroundClear

This combination kills anything that you do not wish to grow. If there are other desirable plants close by, I will only hand pull the weeds to not chance killing my outdoor flower beds and plants. Be cautious using herbicides on a breezy day. A gust of wind carrying herbicides in the wrong direction can cause misfortunate damage to your precious landscape.

This year, I did have help from my mother to catch me up on all of my weeding. Bless her heart. She annihilated those weeds! My 78-year-old mother hand pulled weeds around the garden, the house, and driveway, and she helped me paint my garden fence. She is a complete ROCK STAR! My mother can run circles around these “youngin’s” today. I do appreciate all the help that she provides. I love her!

Overgrowth

Having a garden is the easy part. Keeping up with it’s growth is a completely other adventure. I love to plants seeds and watch them grow. Harvesting is not always easy for me. I do love to cook with whatever I harvest, but I tend to leave my produce growing until I am ready to use them. Veggies may spoil or go to seed. This is when I call in my family and friends to rescue produce. Sharing is the best. Who does not love fruits, veggies and herbs right from the garden, especially when transformed into delicious treats?

I prune blackberries and tomato plants throughout the growing season. They definitely need pruning and controlling. The plants grow into “ginormous” out of control vegetation with lots of leaves and not much fruit if left unpruned. My blackberries were up to 7 feet tall, and the tomatoes over 8 feet tall. Granted, I love tomatoes and blackberries, but I really need to keep them more manageable…. and reachable. Properly pruning plants does help to have a really nice harvest. Cutting back suckers or pinching off the plants and superfluous leaves allows for much better fruit growth.

Sharing Options

Should you be in the situation where you have an abundance of produce, there are organizations that will be happy to take the produce off your hands. Through AmpleHarvest.org, you can find a local food pantry to donate your excess produce. I am lucky to have a food pantry within walking distance of the property.

There is also the option of selling produce at the local farm markets or street markets. There may be some red tape to go through in order to sell to the public, but this is a viable option if you are up for it. Contact your local Department of Agriculture to see what is required to sell in your area.

Ongoing Tasks

Gardening does take hard work. Even with my mother’s help, there is still so much more to do in the garden. Here is my current, ever-changing, list:

• Cut the grape vines way back. (DONE!)
• Paint the rest of the garden fence. (DONE!)
• Dig up the rest of the potatoes. (Mom did some, but there is still more out there)
• Harvest blackberries and cut the plants way back. (Harvested, but not cut back)
• Turn over garden beds. (Soon… I promise)
• Pineapple plants need to go into bigger pots. (DONE! And brought back into the house for the Fall/Winter)
• Put house plants into bigger pots. (DONE!)
• And so much more…. including more yard weeding. (“Whoopie,” she said sarcastically)

To have a garden is a commitment. A garden takes patience, a lot of care, and is truly a labor of love. The hard work does not deter me. The garden is my happy place, and I love every minute of it! Although, helpers in the garden are always loved and appreciated.