Yes, Chris. I've been using the distilled vinegar for about 5 years. Seems to work fine on weeds in hot, sunny weather.

Tee. Thanks! I hadn't heard of the horticulture vinegar. Home Depot?

I buy coconut core doormats. They don't last forever. I wonder if it can be used with or instead of cardboard in layering?

I'm not sure if HD has it or not, Susie. I usually go to Lowe's here. But it is available at Amazon.com for those who might want it and not have access otherwise.

Your intense sun really causes things like the coir mats to break down more quickly, doesn't it? In CA, we always had car dashboard mats/covers or else it wasn't long before the dash was dried out and badly cracked (in spite of all the ArmorAll). Here, no one uses them, much less sells them. But that is a good idea about the coir ... at the end of the season, they always have liners and so forth on clearance. You've given me an idea.

hazelnut said:tropicbreeze: I wonder if a scattering of diatomaceous earth might help some with the termite problem in your cardboard and paper mulch. I use it for the ants that get in my dog's food. It is not poisonous to cats or dogs, and is quite effective on insects. It is available at Amazon. Most people buy food grade, but it is also sold for swimming pool filters.

Here is a link to an article I wrote several years ago on the hows and why's of no-till gardening. I hope it is useful.

I was just reading back over your post and the article, Gloria. Thought-provoking. I use diatomacous earth for a number of things and I agree that might be useful for the issue Zig mentioned, although I had not thought of it. I buy mine in the lawn and garden section at our local Lowe's so assume it is not the food-grade type. I am going to check the pool supply aisle next time to compare prices. Thanks for putting me onto that particular info.

Indeed, we used to call this "no-till" gardening, although I hadn't heard that term in quite awhile. But the principles are the same. Soil profiles and so forth make an interesting study. I find that my soil, which is heavy on the clay in some areas, indeed actually does very well for planting and growing many, many things as long as the drainage remains good. Fortunately we gently slope downhill in the back. Our drainage is excellent. The picture above that has the EE "Cups" in it is in a fairly clay-heavy area, actually. I sheet mulched/lasagna-ed (is that a word?) that bed with no disturbing or tilling the soil whatsoever. It was not a particularly high stack of layers. I do like to wait until my heavy cardboard has softened and become penetrable and not plant right away so that bed sat from Fall through the Winter until the following Spring before planting. The bed has done extremely well in spite of having been an area of clay soil and Bermuda grass (what a combination). That is also another reason I want to get away from mowing my back ... clay compaction.

Aguane< Maybe put the coconut mats over the cardboard and the cardboard over shredded paper if you need it to improve the appearance of your garden. Most people use woodchips. I just leave the cardboard exposed -- no one comes in my garden except me and my dogs so I don't have to be concerned about appearance.

Clay soil is great garden soil but it needs to have organic matter incorporated. You don't have to dig it in, you can use cover crops, or just shovel on some manure and cover with cardboard.

Here is a link for 20% vinegar:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007LTTKO/


As one reviewer said, we do need to work on Amazon to offer it under their free shipping program. It is not cheap.

I remember Dave had a suggestion in one of his articles to soak the cardboard in a garbage can before applying it to the garden. This would solve the problem of working in an area with little rain. And it would start the degradation process right away so you would not have to wait so long to plant.

http://garden.org/articles/vie...

Soaking the cardboard makes it easier to shred for worm bedding. It would also certainly help the cardboard start to break down faster as the first layer of a sheet mulch.

Large pieces of moist and flexible cardboard would be a lot easier to lay out in a windy area as well. Now, why didn't I think of that at the time?

Hi all! I wanted to say hello and mention something I've had good luck with to control bermuda grass in my area. Not sure what kind of bermuda grass it is, sorry. I live in the upstate area of SC in a small city named Inman.

I use really hot water and dump it on the areas or edges where the grass is growing into. When I'm finished with a batch of water bath canning I use that water in the big canner and pour it down the edge of our tar driveway where our regular rye grass grows into the hot top. It works great!

We built an 8 x 4 foot - square foot garden last year and did not put a bottom on it. Probably a mistake I think, but time will tell. Towards the beginning of summer I had some long bermuda shoots that had come up. One sprig just outside the edge on one side and another one just on another inside edge. I pushed the soil over from the edge and tried to pull out as much as I could and started heating water. I went all around the outside edges and that seemed to do the trick for the rest of last year anyhow. I do find I have to repeat this process, sometimes a couple of times in the summer.

As soon as I harvested those square foot boxes near the invaders, I pushed the soil over and poured really hot water down in the well. That worked for now, as the rest of the whole fall I did not see a reappearance of it. I should probably get out there and do the process again before the growing season really starts in. It's dormant right now. We'll see how this year goes.
It's awful to keep it from growing into my flower bed edges. Does anyone know if the 20% vinegar leaves a dead brown line edge? I was wondering about the regular grass.

BTW - I got an email from Discover , where Amazon is doing free shipping by using your Discover card till March 31st. Hope that is good everywhere for your area too!

It will kill regular grass and when I have used the vinegar, yes a brown edge

Ok, thanks I will try and be neat then!

I went back and looked at the Amazon free shipping offer with Discover and see it's on certain catagories of things only. I wanted books which were not eligible. Sigh.

Hmm....boiling water. Nice. How about boiling vinegar water!

valeriebishop said:Ok, thanks I will try and be neat then!

I went back and looked at the Amazon free shipping offer with Discover and see it's on certain catagories of things only. I wanted books which were not eligible. Sigh.

But keep us posted on any good gardening stuff they do offer the free shipping on. (What a horrible sentence that was.)

SongofJoy said:

But keep us posted on any good gardening stuff they do offer the free shipping on. (What a horrible sentence that was.)

Good thing there's no grammar nazis here!

So true, Mary. That was pitiful.

SongofJoy said:So true, Mary. That was pitiful.

I honestly didn't have any problem with it...

What? Amazon has free shipping every day -- if you buy the designated items, and you wait 5 - 10 days for delivery. The free shipping deal right now is for fast shipping 1-2 day delivery. Ill wait and get my stuff for free all the time.

Boiling water weeding. There is also the Red Dragon flame weeder (I just got mine from Amazon), and also now there is the steam weeder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

And here is the Red Dragon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?N...

One Amazon reviewer said its best to flame after a rain, so that you are really steaming the weeds. This is to avoid flare-ups that you might get in dry weather. This presentation says never flame wet weeds. Why, I wonder?

I think she meant on that specific item. Their free shipping doesn't include everything they sell. I've bought numerous things from them that didn't qualify for the free shipping since they also sell for outside vendors. Not everything they sell is stocked by them.

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