The University Apartments Community Garden

[Rebecca]

Here is one way of removing established perennial weeds such as thistle, quackgrass, comfrey, dandelions organically:

1. Wait for a day when the soil is moist but not muddy - the day after a nice rain is good
2. Get a large digging fork or other similar implement. If dealing with thistle, wear thick gloves.
3. Loosen the soil around the plant with the fork (to a depth of at least 8"), then grasp the plant by the root and pull gently. Continue to loosen soil with fork if the plant does not come free easily. The goal is to remove the entire plant, with its entire root system intact.

Inevitably, some small pieces of root will be left behind, and these will grow into new (but much smaller) plants. These should of course be removed as well as they appear.

In my experience, if one removes the plant entirely, even serious thistle problems can be brought under control very quickly.

What does NOT work is hacking off only the top of the perennial plants with a hoe. They will quickly regrow from the root, and they will continue to spread from the root and increase. (Hoeing may help to keep small plants from becoming established, but it will not kill an established plant.)

I am also very much against the use of synthetic herbicides, including Roundup, in the gardens. I have a small child who plays there. I want to grow organic vegetables for her and my family - this is why I signed up. I personally feel like the decision by the committee to spray Roundup is a betrayal of my trust, and the trust of the everyone in the community who is committed to organic gardening. If the decision is made to do this, I would second the opinion that it not be done this year, to allow those of us who no longer wish to garden here to leave without sacrificing our harvest this year.

I understand Robin's concern that perennial weeds are a problem in plots that are not well-cared for. It seems to me that there is already a policy in place which addresses this issue, as far as the interior of the plots goes. Each gardener is responsible for caring for their plot, which includes removing perennial weeds such as thistle and comfrey. If they find that they are not able to keep up with the maintenance, they either give up all or a portion of their plot voluntarily, or it is taken away from them. [I do feel that we could do a better job of ENFORCING this policy in a more timely manner.] If an abandoned plot has many mature perennial weeds, a crew of gardeners can attack it, using the manual method outline above. It is certainly work, but a group of 3-4 people can easily dig over one plot in a matter of a couple hours. I don't see why this is not feasible. Any increase in perennial weeds inside the plots is a failure of enforcement of the current policy, not lack of a feasible policy.

As far as the common areas go (paths, tree island, etc.), I don't see why workday crews can't be assigned to dig out weeds there as well, if there is a particular problem area directly adjacent to a plot.

I personally do not like the grass paths, with all the noisy, expensive, dirty mowing it necessitates (see Will's post). My preference would be to install paths with a permanent surface of some kind (but water-permeable, of course - perhaps 12" of smallish gravel?) Maybe that is not feasible for a number of reasons. It would obviously be a big expense to install. But the money saved in maintenance seems like it would make up for that. Stone terraces could be installed on the hilly areas to stop erosion. I don't see how applying roundup will help with erosion.

[balewis]

I second Rebecca's comment "I personally do not like the grass paths, with all the noisy, expensive, dirty mowing it necessitates (see Will's post). My preference would be to install paths with a permanent surface of some kind (but water-permeable, of course - perhaps 12" of smallish gravel?) Maybe that is not feasible for a number of reasons. It would obviously be a big expense to install. But the money saved in maintenance seems like it would make up for that. Stone terraces could be installed on the hilly areas to stop erosion."

As I mentioned in a previous post, since the paths (at least near my plot) are full of quackgrass and creeping charlie, there is no good way to keep them from repeatedly encroaching on the nearby plots.

Barb Lewis - 736

[peaceclub7]

hello i am glad to know more about your forum..
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