Fall Workday Success + The Restful Garden

Hello garden friends, and happy AUTUMN! The equinox has passed, fall is officially here, and it is definitely starting to feel like it! We successfully completed our fall workday in the community garden last weekend and I would love to share some details about our day, as well as some fall/ winter garden plans. Here’s to some Muddy Musings!

So, as I said, the other weekend we had our fall workday. Our community garden is made up of 21 total plots in the main area, with an additional smaller section off of one side adding 7 more plots. It is a hybridized group of the general public in our community, and church members from the church in which the land belongs to. Workdays are held to maintain our community spaces, foster connection amongst fellow gardeners, and prepare the garden accordingly to the season.

If you’ve had the chance to read my last blog post, you know that our primary goal this workday was WEEDS and booooyyyyy did we work hard! I am incredibly thankful and impressed with the amount of weeding we got done within four hours out of those who showed up to work. We had just under 20 individuals getting to work, and as one of them comically said amidst a pile of green debris, it was the “free version of Planet Fitness- LITERALLY!”

Although it was pretty intense work, everyone had a fantastic attitude and great rapport. I was genuinely concerned that we might lose our beloved garden plots to the weeds for next year- but the garden will live to see another year! Our primary contesters were the Crab Grass and the Bermuda Grass within the walkways that bordered and connected each individual 5x20 plot. We set off at 8am and everyone got to picking, hacking, digging, raking, ripping, and pulling every weed that dared challenge our garden. Our volunteers HAND CLEARED aaaaaalllll of the borders and middle aisles that were roughly a foot and a half wide within a roughly 3,000 square foot space. I am impressed. Some areas, the grass was mid-calf in height, while some other areas, the roots were so incredibly deep and expansive that we would pull up sections of roots as thick as my pinky finger and longer than my forearm. The Bermuda Grass especially had thick knots of roots that we ripped out all across the garden. Bermuda Grass, interestingly enough, is an incredibly aggressive and rapid growth grass that not only spreads by seed, but by underground rhizome as well. This enables it to pop up under borders and barriers with ease. It is certainly not a friend in the garden.

Prior to our workday, we did do some preparatory work against the weeds to help in their removal. We weed-eated and then attempted a homemade “poison” with high acidity (30%) horticulture grade vinegar. The vinegar was certainly affective in killing the grass/ weeds, however, my takeaway would be that it needs a much heavier application than what I gave, and perhaps even staggered application across a longer period. I split two gallons across the *walkways* of our nearly 3,000 square foot garden. The walkways were roughly a foot and a half wide surrounding 5x20 plots. This quantity perhaps would have been better suited for about 1/4th, or one corner, of the entirety of the. garden walkways. We also had rain that fouled some of our preparatory plans, but I could see a succession application working very well. Perhaps a heavy application on day one and then again in 2-3 day increments until you saw desired results. I have heard that direct sun and heat help to expedite this process. I also shared an alternative “recipe” on my previous post if you are unable to obtain (or afford) such high acidity vinegar. Of course, we then pulled all of the grass and weeds, but it is always an option to leave them. Benefits to leaving weeds in place (yet contained) include water retention, soil preservation, and insect habitat, among others.

Moving forward, gardeners had mixed plans for overwintering their plots. Some have sown fall crops and hope for yet another bounty before frost sneaks in. Others have decided to let their beds die back and “sleep” over the winter (as in, not cutting and clearing and simply leaving green debris in place) to provide much needed shelter for beneficial insects and other garden critters. Still yet, some have chosen more of a “middle-ground” and have sown seed for cover crops. Cover crops are a seed intentionally sown for the purpose of keeping the ground “covered” over winter as opposed to bare (this helps with soil health and preservation) but without the intent of reaping a harvest. Cover crops are often various mild grasses or clovers, and some have additional soil health benefits such as clover, which adds nitrogen back into the soil. Each gardener has a different goal in mind and each of these options can be great for you depending on what you are seeking for your garden. Who knew gardening could involve so much planning!

The garden is finally feeling slower, and now freshly “cleaned”, it’s feeling ready for the great slumber. I am excited for the slow in season and in bustle, for a brief moment of exhale, a pause, and a chance to yearn for that peak summer hustle yet again. I look forward to a humble fall harvest within my own plot, and already feel excitement for the life that will come back around, in due time, after a season of rest. I certainly will enjoy a break from fighting weeds- that’s for sure. In this off time, I am planning on coming up with a more offensive measure of weed control for next season. BUT, enough weeds for now. I’m just happy they’re gone and thankful for all of those who contributed. Many hands certainly make light work!

Happy fall ya’ll, and happy “slowing"!

Casey

BEFORE
An interior path in the garden being overtaken with weeds!

Incredible VOLS- Many hands make light work!

Casey Davey 9/21/23 Casey Davey 9/21/23

Upcoming garden workday+ Trialing an organic weed killer!

Hello, hello my garden friends- thanks for joining again for some “Muddy Musings”! Today I am excited to chat about our plans for our upcoming Community Workday.

Over at the community garden at First Presbyterian, Oak Ridge, we have two work days per year- one in the spring and one in the fall. The purpose of the workday is for general maintenance and tidiness; being as it is a community garden open to many different members, the workday for us ensures that all of our shared spaces are well maintained for all to continually enjoy using. The schedule for the day varies with the season, but coming up in less than two weeks we will be having our fall workday! On September 30th from 8am to 12 noon (in case you want to join ;) *wink, wink*), a group of gardeners and garden supporters will be gathering. I am so excited that we will be having quite the varied group- those who garden within the community plots, as well as some local master gardeners and other various “friends of Oak Ridge” and volunteers. It is the true spirit of a community garden, in that even those who don’t garden within its perimeter still come to support the gardeners that do! It is one of my favorite things to network within common circles and to foster community connection. It is another favorite thing of mine to see people coming together to support the growth (literally haha) of each others interests. All around, I am stoked for this upcoming workday, if you couldn’t tell.

This years fall schedule is going to be very “weed” intensive. This year, our community garden has THRIVED! Be it the steady rain we got this season, or just a little stroke of luck, the garden has been lush and abounding- including the weeds. Our biggest opponent has definitely been the Crab grass and Bermuda grass. This year, we are going to try a new (to us) way of getting our weeds under control so that they can’t continue to reseed and spread- a three step approach! The first step is to cut everything down as much as possible. We are already at work with the weed eater, getting everything within the walkways and perimeter mowed down. Second is the big step that is our “trial” which I am eager to try out! We will be using horticulture grade vinegar to spray and kill the weeds/ grass. No RoundUp needed! This vinegar is 30-45% acidity, whereas what you get at the grocery store is most often 5% acidity. You can typically acquire this horticultural vinegar at your local Home Depot, Tractor Supply, or other store of the like. Our plan is to spray the trimmed grass/ weeds with this high acidity vinegar to kill it, prior to pulling it up. Which leads me to our final, and most important step- PULLING! Now I know pulling weeds is certainly not the most exciting thing to do in the garden, however, it is arguably the most crucial of necessities. All of the previous steps to weed control would be in vain without the task of pulling the weeds up. Keeping them pulled keeps future generations of weeds at bay by taking away the ability for the existing weeds to go to seed. Even after spraying and killing everything with the vinegar, it is still good practice and due diligence to pull everything up.

I am excited to try out this high acidity vinegar and share our results in its effectiveness. It is an approved organic practice and my hope is that it will be competitively potent in comparison to its counterparts. The vinegar averages about $20 per gallon, and so depending on your weed pressure and size of your garden, it may be costly to some. An alternative option is to make a vinegar solution. I have not tried the mixture personally, however, I still believe it to be better than the alternative of mainstream chemical sprays.

The recipe for the vinegar solution is

1 gallon of 5% white vinegar
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of dish soap

Mix together and then spray as required. You can use a very small amount of boiling water to dissolve salt as needed.

If anyone tries out the above recipe, let us know! I will share results to our high acidity vinegar trial in the coming weeks.

As for now, happy gardening to you all! Wishing you all a lush and weed free garden, both for fall crops and for next summer season! (Because it’s never too early to dream about next years garden, haha!)

Casey