SS cafe

[baymule]

Glad you have him back safely, and now know that he WILL jump the fence. Time to put a hot wire around the fence?

We have a hot wire section that keeps him in. This ain't the first time that he has taken off. But it is the first time that he jumped back in! DH let him out the front door, there is no hot wire around the yard. I now have the sheep barn fixed so that he can't get out of it either. The back yard and 2 pastures are hot wired.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

This ain't the first time that he has taken off.

Hmmmm, reminds of a dog that lives around here. Except Cowboy has been really good and hasn't run off in ages!

Working on my cuppa this morning and thinking about todays projects. Beautifully cool and crisp and the day is begging for outside chores. No problem there!

 

[baymule]

Yesterday I finally finished pulling the giant ragweed and lambs quarters, dead, over my head, tall weeds. I now have a huge burn pile. I have tried deep mulch, wood chips, cardboard, more wood chips, the weeds sneak in, it hits 100+ degrees, I lose interest in having a heat stroke combatting weeds, and they TAKE OFF in monumental growth. I lose the battle every year. I AM DONE. I have decided to put down weed barrier cloth. I have read the horror reviews on Amazon, where people put down mulch over it, the mulch collected dirt, weeds took root and punched holes in the weed barrier, making a matted mess that was practically impossible to remove. I will not put mulch on it and plan on rolling it up and storing it in the fall. Then over the winter I can load up on compost, chicken, sheep and horse manures, then plant clovers in it to turn under in the spring. Has anybody ever used it?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I can tell you that I absolutely detest, despise, and abhor weed barrier cloth. Roots do NOT respect it. I would opt for cardboard. You can cover it with mulch, or not: your choice. Cardboard will feed the soil. Weed barrier cloth: does nothing to improve your soil. Cardboard will help with moisture retention. WB: does nothing. I think if I used WB, I would end up with massive ant colonies thriving under it. any time I've used plastic, that has been what happened. I've not noticed them moving in under cardboard.

I'd use at least 3 layers of cardboard in your situation.

BTW, have I told you that I'm not a fan of weed barrier cloth???

At least the weeds are telling me that you have fertile soil!

 

[flowerbug]

Yesterday I finally finished pulling the giant ragweed and lambs quarters, dead, over my head, tall weeds. I now have a huge burn pile. I have tried deep mulch, wood chips, cardboard, more wood chips, the weeds sneak in, it hits 100+ degrees, I lose interest in having a heat stroke combatting weeds, and they TAKE OFF in monumental growth. I lose the battle every year. I AM DONE. I have decided to put down weed barrier cloth. I have read the horror reviews on Amazon, where people put down mulch over it, the mulch collected dirt, weeds took root and punched holes in the weed barrier, making a matted mess that was practically impossible to remove. I will not put mulch on it and plan on rolling it up and storing it in the fall. Then over the winter I can load up on compost, chicken, sheep and horse manures, then plant clovers in it to turn under in the spring. Has anybody ever used it?

we use weed barrie fabric but we do not leave it exposed to the sunlight because that will degrade it. normally we also start out by putting down a layer or two of cardboard to smother whatever weeds/grasses are already growing there. by the time that breaks down it usually takes care of any weeds. rarely we have to go back and do it again.

the issue you speak of with weeds growing in the top mulch, yes, that happens, but for us when that happens it usually means that the top mulch has broken down enough to be used as humus in a garden and then it gets refreshed with new woodchips or whatever. sometimes i'll weed an area and put another layer of fresh material over the top of the old but that is only meant to be temporary until i can get back and remove the mostly decayed humus from underneath and get it moved into a garden where it will be more useful.

i don't normally have to spend a lot of time weeding every day to get all the gardens taken care of but i do have to be consistent enough in the scraping to keep up. in the hot part of summer i get out early for a few hours or wait until later when it cools off.

 

[Hinotori]

Hubby had the flu then I caught it last week. It took me down hard. Got deep in my lungs and anyone else with asthma knows what that gets like.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So sorry about the flu @Hinotori !

 

[Hinotori]

It's hit hard in this area. I didn't get the head part of it anywhere near what hubby had. I had a worse fever and of course the lung issue. He came down with it about 4 days before me and tried so hard to keep it from me. He finished off our huge bottle of sanitizer.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

DH got his flu shot a few weeks ago but I haven't. I really don't want to get it - but I'm afraid it might be too late to get the shot now.

 

[NH Homesteader]

They'll give them in March, definitely not too late. I know not everyone is a fan but the kids and I always get them. DH does some years and not others. He got the flu one year when he didn't get one, none of us got sick.

Sorry you've been sick @Hinotori