Remember these weeds?
They came from the underneath the clothesline and weren't much good for anything. Seeing how resourceful the bush is out here however, I simply had to mimic it's very lazy approach to making soil fertile again!
First, take said weeds and pile in a row. Dump any soil you have on hand and add to the pile. Wet thoroughly.
Next take a bale of mulch material and some newspapers to cover the wet pile. Paper down first, wet paper then cover with a thick layer of mulch. Leave for a week or two.
Come back and plant seedlings. I opened up the centre of the pile and cut through the newspaper, as it likes to stop water penetrating the soil. I added some compost down the centre strip then planted out my sunflower seedlings.
Here are the seedlings so far. I'm keeping the moisture up to them as we've had a pretty hot day today. I'm also experimenting with pulling the mulch up to shade the soil trench. I've heard this can help aid in preventing moisture surface evaporation, but I'll see how it works.
Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks time with an updated photo - sunflowers still surviving!
What a great idea Chris. How I wish we could do that here, the kikuya would think I was feeding it!
ReplyDeleteIt won't be long until you have huge sunflowers... and all sorts of wonderful birds visiting.
Emily
Hi I've just been looking over your blog, inspiring! I like a bit of power tool action too, however the little chook house I built was just that, little. Love the girls too, are they pekins? we have the orange version.
ReplyDeleteLurv no-dig gardens:D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys, especially to a new face, jedda. You are right - they are pekins. I have 4 black hens and 1 blue splash rooster.
ReplyDeleteHe was an older male about ready for retirement. It was only after I purchased him, that I discovered he wasn't able to mount the hens properly. Apparently he had been used for a lot of (AI) or artificial inseminaton.
I'm hoping he'll find the call of the wild again. I'd love to have some new chicks around.
I'm learning to love no-dig gardens too lucky-1. So quick and easy to put up. I've noticed my sunflower seedlings are responding by growing slightly bigger!
Oh the dreded kikuya grass, Emily. That's one thing I don't miss. We had it too when we lived in Toowoomba. It got into absolutely everything!! I wonder if it does well in the weed teas? I've actually seen people use the dead weeds (after sitting in water for 6-8 weeks) as a mulch for the garden afterwards.
I must say I'm learning a new appreciation for weeds every day. They can be used in all sorts of ways.
nice work Chris, cant wait to see your sunny sunflowers :o)
ReplyDeletei have given you an award over on my blog