The weeds have gotten bad again for only the second time this year.
I went through this weekend and spent a few hours just tackling the undersides of the benches. Same list as last year, except much less Canadian thistle - we really nicked all that in the bud with our steady mowing and clearing this year :) In order of population size, starting with the largest populations inside the front growing houses:
I went through this weekend and spent a few hours just tackling the undersides of the benches. Same list as last year, except much less Canadian thistle - we really nicked all that in the bud with our steady mowing and clearing this year :) In order of population size, starting with the largest populations inside the front growing houses:
- chickweed
- purslane
- mulberry weed (hairy crabweed)
- wood sorrel
- Canadian thistle
- horseweed
- sow thistle
I’m wondering about just letting them grow out again to collect the biomass for help retaining/generating heat and moisture at least to help extend the season this year, even we still can’t grow through the winter. The chickweed and wild strawberries in particular cover such big regions, while pulling up very easily, that if we let them go all winter - so what? 
One pass through these benches is usually enough to scrape a clean slate and this space is really difficult to heat so we can use all the help we can get...also it's the less lanor intensive way to be at the end of a growing season when everyone feels worn out, and maybe a nearly literally burned out from the heat and months of solar exposure.
(For this batch I used a few wheelbarrow trips to start a new compost area. The area we used this past year became so overgrown it was difficult to identify or navigate to. And this year we’ve been able to mow and clear much more of the field and our neighbor has been working to eliminate that entire mystery dumping region TruCut used without breaking down or maintaining.)
