The Recycled Garden

I'm not completely sure if this post is more about recycling or my battle with Bermuda Grass. I have to say though that I love my new old cracked pot that was found on a dumpster dive by my other garden half. He just knows me so well. The bottom had already been taken out of the pottery and was perfect for sinking down in the herb garden for some pretty purple and lime green sweet potato vines. However, as you can see in this picture I have Bermuda Grass coming up everywhere and it's beginning to get all up in one of my sage plants. It just simply drives me nuts. So today I set out to recycle the garden paths to see if I can conquer my nemesis..

Now you can see what I'm faced with. This stuff is not suppose to be here and it's out of control. I've conquered the blasted Bermuda Grass in other areas of the garden by layering newspapers and mulch. It's a cool method called Lasagna Gardening. But I just haven't knuckled down on the herb garden until today. This is suppose to be the path through my Morning Glory Arbor to arrive at the frog pond. That would be that bit of rocks back there hiding in the grass.

The first thing ya gotta do is yang it out. Yes, you heard me right! This stuff will find a way to creep back if you don't get most of the roots out plain and simple. Most of the yanking isn't too bad because I had the paths loaded down with leaves that were raked up last fall. I'm able to take out long strands at a time and that is a very good sign. I've already pulled most of it out directly under the arbor and used a box that our new rotating fan came in. Don't ever throw away boxes. They work great to help smoother out weeds for building new paths. The temperature is already heating up this morning and the humidity is higher than the temp. so I don't know how far I'm going to get on this endeavour.

Just look at all this rich dirt that composted in the path. I'm going to rake as much up as possible and put it in the garden beds where it belongs. I know my tired strawberries and a whole lot of herbs will enjoy it for awhile until rain comes one day to cheer them up again I'm going to get out some more grass and rake some of this stuff up, then it will be time for some A/C and Iced Tea. Whew, this Texas weather is rough this summer.

The heat shot up in the triple digits this afternoon, so I didn't get back out here until after dinner this evening, and it was still blazing out. Determination and hatred for Bermuda Grass is the key here. As you can see I've been putting out all my supplies. They consist of two old trash bags that leaves had been in, a whole bunch of Whole Food Store bags. This really should be a paying gig for advertising their bags.. I love their recycled paper bags and they always double bag. So I've recycled the recycled.. Well then, let's not forget about that fan box too. Anything can work here. We just want to smoother the grass out and you will never see all this when I'm done. Plus everything except the plastic will melt back into the earth. Now it's time to drag up the water hose and wet it all down before a wind comes and blows it away.

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Now what I've done was load up a few wheelbarrows of saw dust from the other halves wood shop. It's great stuff, but you don't want it in your garden beds because it will change your soil into very acid stuff. But it doesn't hurt a thing in the paths because I'm only going to walk on it. I don't always have this much wood dust available and usually use just plain old leaves. So now that I've recycled the wood dust from the shop it is time to water it all down. I'm far from finished. I can see a few pieces of wood that I missed picking out of the pile and I'll probably come back later this winter with leaves anyways. Just running a tad low on them right now. But this will work for the time being. 

Now I'm just playing around in here. It's fun again to weave in and out of the paths and go through the tunnel of Morning Glories. See that Lemon Grass in the background? It's out of control. We've been using it in our tea and it tastes great. I'm probably going to be sore tonight, but by morning I'll most likely be inspired to do some more recycling. Maybe I'll even pick up the pieces of wood if I can still bend over. I've got a few more fun pots that the garden half brought home from that prize winning dumpster dive so maybe I'll pot up a few goodies to put in here now. You might actually be able to see them now that the area is more defined.

Happy Gardening!

Pammy