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BTW, has anyone ever solarized a plot to kill the vegetation (a/k/a weeds) before planting a garden? If so, what kind of tarps or covering did you use? How long did it take before the weeds died and you could plant?

Also, anyone use a tiller to plow up the yard/garden before planting? If so, what kind, and were you pleased with it?
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The turn this thread has taken is quite interesting. I've been enjoying reading but haven't taken the time to post, thinking I'll wait till a rainy or cold day this week and spend some time, accompanied by a nice hot cup of tea or coffee.

But I did want to comment on CWillie's friend with fish fertilized roses. We discovered the benefit of lake weed from the lake close to our home. Every year big dredging type machines would scoop masses of weeds from the lake, to keep the beaches clear for swimming.

Dad would haul his handbuilt trailer to the beach and have a load of lake weed deposited in the trailer, bring it home, we'd help unload it, and he'd return again. We then spread the lake weeds all over the garden.

We had the best gardens when we mulched with lake weeds, taking care though not to rake the weeds too close to the plants so that the stems didn't burn b/c the weeds were fresh and heated up in the sun.

But one year I had a real scare. Dad had brought a trailer full of fresh weeds over to my house; it was warm and steaming a bit. I was tired after unloading all those weeds, so I took a nap, but put the weeds in the garage so code enforcement wouldn't run over and cite me.

I left the garage partly open so the weed pile could get fresh air, and so the weeds wouldn't heat up the garage and start a fire (or so I thought might happen).

My nap was interrupted by the sound of a fire truck. I awoke with a start, scared and totally convinced the seaweed had caught on fire. I peeked out a window, saw a ladder truck in front of my house. I became even more scared - what if I had set my garage on fire from storing the weeds?

Quickly got dressed, ran outside, and saw that the firemen were going down my driveway, but to the back of the house next door. The alcoholic junkie had set the back yard on fire, having decided to just burn the weeds in his back yard instead of raking or pulling them up.

The fire had spread to the line of trees along the back yard and was quickly moving in both directions from the initial starting point. Neighbors along the back yard fence had called the fire department.

I was relieved, but scared, and never again hid the weeds in the garage. From then on, regardless how tired I was, the whole pile got spread the same day I got it.

But I sure would love to find a source for a few trailer loads of lake weeds.

And BTW, morning glories and roses loved milk water. I left about 1/2" of milk in the jug after drinking the milk. Filled the jug with water, then poured it around the perimeter of my roses and MGs. I had the best roses when they were fed with milk residue.
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Following along with the topic of organic fertilizer:
There was a lady in my home town who had the most amazing roses. Her secret was that her husband was an avid fisherman and she buried the waste under her roses... I wouldn't want to tip toe through that garden, at least not bare foot!
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It is OK to spread here too if the land isn't frozen and you can inject or turn it under, but I think snow covered ground would usually be too wet to work unless the land was very light.
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It’s done here routinely by the agricultural science and dairy sciences departments. It’s plowed under within a day or so. Never heard of river or stream pollution here from the practice. I’ve never had a problem with my well water either and the state tests yearly. Maybe it’s a difference in soil or something.
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Spreading manure on snow covered ground is a big no-no here due to concerns over run off. I wouldn't say no to a bucketful for my garden but I'd much rather have some well aged dry manure + bedding, the smell of that liquid stuff is indescribable👃.
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Local dairy farm has state of the art scrapers and cow poop liquid system. When snow starts melting they will come and spray your fields or gardens with the liquid manure. They will also leave a 50 gal barrel filled to place around individual plants. Works great and they are glad to get their storage tanks empty.
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If you know someone with horses try and get your hands on some from their well rotted pile. It smells a great deal better than the cow variety and is usually mixed with sawdust. Most horse owners will be flad to let you dig in their pile.
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You inspired me to go out driving with a couple of buckets, unfortunately all the farmers are busy on the land so no surreptitious collecting was possible today; I did score a couple of nice rocks though.

A good hot compost pile should kill all the weed seeds and pathogens, the only problem I had with weeds was when I got a big load of cattle manure from mom's neighbour and used it immediately.... I'm still fighting a little creeping plant even though we moved away, I guess it move right along with all the plants I brought.
Last year after my confrontation with my neighbour over the grass problem he retaliated by pointing out the pile of "junk" I've got in the corner of my property (bags of soil and bundled twigs and a bag of yard waste waiting for semi annual pick up). Can you imagine what he would think if I started a 3' square compost pile that included manure?
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Smeshque, llama poo, that is interesting. I have not seen any llamas around, I know someone that has sheep and she says she thinks it's the best. I have seen her poor sheep and I am afraid to try it from her pasture.

I have never had a weed problem from harvesting wild poo, could be that composting kills any seeds from germination, it gets really hot when done properly. I also have birds and bunnies coming in all day, so pulling weeds is just part of gardening. I used to pull when they first came up, now I wait. I am an organic heirloom gardener so I get some really great freebies coming up. Waiting also gives me more items for the compost pile. Win/win.
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I remember my mom putting chicken poo on her ferns. They looked greener and better than ever!
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Isthisreal-I understand the happiness poo collecting brings. Poo is a great gift for us growers. Your right, the tourist just dream..we live it
I hear that llama poo is great. That the "llama beans" are great fertilizer, plus supposedly they all line up to poo in one spot, or that could be al pacas, not sure.

Harvested herbs today, just some basil, rosemary, oregano, and sage, now dehydrating them for sale. They smell wonderful.
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I'm so mad
I had pruned mom's favorite yellow rose bush back this year and it shot up with a bountiful of roses
Stupid mow, blow and go Gardner took it upon himself to hack it in half after the bloom taking the new buds with it and leaving four long stems still in bloom
If it wasn't for his having been with the Viking for years, I'd fire him
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Consider carefully before scooping manure to use in your garden. A friend did this once then she had a bountiful crop of weeds, some new ones she had never had before. It took five years of spraying and burning until she was able to get rid of them.
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Cwillie, i would get buckets that fit in the trunk that have lids, get a foldable camp shovel and a water proof bag that will hold all of the equipment. Find bags that you can line your buckets with, fold over and put lid on. This will keep the yuck out of your trunk.

Let us know if you do something. All of my research points to cow manure for the most nutrients vs horse. Chicken poo is the best but quite frankly I hate to pay for something I can go get free and it is better then a therapist for me. It also stinks like, well poo!🤣
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So, I live close to open range ranching, I take a five gallon bucket or two and find the water tanks and holes. Yep, shovel and bucket wandering around water tanks or holes scoopin' poop. It helps that I drive a 4x4 truck and keep my garden equipment in my tool box.

Yea, I'm the crazy lady tourists point at. I know in my heart they just wish they could be so care free.😁
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I grew up in Lancaster, PA in Amish country,, and they made "shite tea" mixed the cow poo in water and watered the plants with it. Worked great for them..
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OK, how do you go about collecting cow manure? (I'm picturing you wandering around the pasture with a shovel and a sack)

Some of the local big farms have started storing their manure in big windrows along the back of their property, when I come across some out in the boonies I've often thought I could help myself if I only had a pickup truck (or I could figure out a no mess way to get it in the trunk of my car 😂)
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I go out and collect cow manure as a good therapy as well. My friends are like, you can not possibly be this happy about poo. Yes I can, it nourishes my compost and heats it up wonderfully, when I apply the compost to my garden I can see how happy my plants are, tell me, what else could I ask for? It is a win/win, happy poo picking, happy me, happy compost, happy plants, yummy dinner! That, to me, is as good as it gets!
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Hopefully I can get this project started in the fall, when house is done. But, I sure have my work cut out for me in the spring!
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Cwillie, SO AZ. Actually there are a few things that grow in the hottest months, sweet potatoes are heat lovers and the leaves are delicious fresh or sauteed, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes (well shaded) squash and of course herbs.

When I read about snow and rain, cold days I can only dream, we have not had any winters for about 6 years and we are already hitting the 100's. Yuck!
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Pam- try Ponderosa Pinks
Polar- you also need a worm farm, we got one last year
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I love gardening. It's so relaxing (mentally) and rewarding. My papaya fruits are ripening and we already harvested several big and tasty papayas.

My husband wants to get a compost tumbler. His back is not young anymore and he doesn't want to mix and turn the heavy compost loads. I don't blame him. So, I'm in the market for a good large compost tumbler. They are expensive. Any recommendations?
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Pam, I have photos of my dad when he planted mortgage lifters. They’re huge. He only planted them one year. Still too early to plant anything here. Probably be a couple more weeks.
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We are planning our garden ( very small) and I love heirloom tomatoes. Looked up a few I wanted to try.. forgot to tell hubs,, not really sure I could find them anyway. Hubs went out today and got the plants.. he was telling me he got me some heirlooms. I mentioned
a Mortgage lifter... and he started to laugh.. he got one!! Also a Mister Stripey,, had great luck with that last year! I am excited!
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I’m hoping my lilac blooms next year, it’s only about 24 inches tall. I have ordered vincas and a peony. It’s fun and exciting starting from scratch in my garden areas here in Idaho.
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Asian beetles, don't remind me. Had them in Kansas, nasty bugs and are not lady bugs! Had been gone for a week. While gone the winds blew a door open. Got home to a ceiling covered with the darn things. It was extremely disgusting!

Honeysuckle blooming here too. Everything still looks very dry.
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Having fun spreading horse manure!

My forsythia did not bloom like normal, do you suppose that is because it bloomed again Dec 2017 when we had a warm spell?
I'm dreading the Japanese beetles again this year 😡 I was constantly spraying Neem oil last year on them but I could not keep up

Have found about 15 little morel mushrooms so far!  And a baby painted turtle on my driveway, it obviously went the wrong direction from the pond so I rescued it but only after I kept it in a little bowl of water and took many pictures 😊

 Spring makes me feel so alive and I wish it would stay morning all day!!!
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Honeysuckle blooming.
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Isthisrealyreal, I'm not sure if you have told us where you live but it is obviously a warmer climate zone, are you able to continue growing your veggies throughout the summer months or do you have to take a break when it gets really hot?
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