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Why do you want to kill weeds in bermuda? It is a danged weed! Wish I could kill every blade of it in our neighborhood cause the people just let the seeds blow all over my nice fescue!
If you’re trying to kill the bermuda, use Ornamec, but you have to wait until later in the year to spray and it could take you 2-4 years to wipe it out. I did a massive spraying in my front yard last year and it looked pretty grim until a few weeks ago when the fescue started coming back.
I need to clean my asparagus box out and put in new soil and compost to start all over. Got a lot out of it, but it’s run it’s cycle. I’ve seen the fellow down here with the hot peppers in Rock Hill, but I have not tried one. I know my limits!
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
I gave up meticulous lawncare. If it’s green I let it go til it’s about 3 inches, and mow it…Kinda like my locks. Not that the locks are green.
Those fools in Alpha’s post remind me to not go back to those days. I fancy a lip burn, followed by a mild back one.
Boa constrictor heat ain’t in the gameplan. Sweat under the eyes is acceptable. Taking a wizz after working the hot ones…NOT!
Stick, getting rid of bermuda is simple, grow centipede and then spray with Poast which kills all grasses except centipede. The nice thing about centipede is it rarely grows higher than 3 inches (take note CD, you’d never have to mow) and it doesn’t grow in winter and it chokes most weeds out.
Smarter than the average bear
Cowdog, I’m growing those peppers mainly to give away to friends, and perhaps give some to by BIL to sell at the Farmer’s Market too. I’ve got some former co-workers who love hot peppers and giving them a few of them is nearly free entertainment.
Thing is, they’re a great novelty item that you can use: dip one in a pot of chili for 10-20 seconds and then throw it away. The chili will have a nice spicy heat that’s not overwhelming. Same thing for a BBQ sauce, like what you’d use to grill wings.
I go with wheat straw and weeds before I’ll ever have another centipede lawn. I grew up sprigging that stuff in the two houses that my parents built..Had it in Beaufort, SC and Florence and just got tired of it. It is easy to maintain, but I just like green stuff…I don’t mind cutting it if I’m riding and drinking a beer either.
But, I have had a much smaller lot during the last 15 years so the mowing isn’t bad at all. The aggravating part has been not being able to aerate, fertilize, and reseed in the fall because of business travel…I’ve fixed that situation AGAIN…Last time I retired, I was out in the yard the next morning raking pinestraw thinking “is this retirement”???
Alpha, did you grow the Reapers from seed or plants? I may have to look for a couple of the plants tomorrow at the local farm and garden store. I used to park in the yard of a house behind Darlington Raceway twice a year at the races. Got to be friends with the couple who lived there. One year she gave me a bag of habineros that she’d grown. Went to the john during the race and set my “nutsack” on fire…After the race, went home, took a shower and we were eating dinner…I rubbed my eye and the fire was back on again!!! You couldn’t even touch those things without burning, so I would need to be very careful with the reapers.
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
Uh, oh…Looks like Reaper II may be in the offing..
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
I haven’t got mine tilled yet but I plan on cukes, tomatoes, green peppers and maybe some beans. Anyone do any canning?
Our garden consists of whatever volunteers pop out of the compost pile. The annual harvest usually consists of about 10 cherry tomatoes, of which we are inordinately proud. We do not plan to do any canning. 🙂
Sure,I jar and or freeze most everything.
I usually do 3 types of pickles, Italian hot cherry peppers,and jalapenos.
Gardening days are past me now – we’ve embraced maintenance free condo living. But I avidly support other local gardeners through our farmer’s market. Love reading about the adventures, though.
Pepper discussion brings back memories – suite mate of mine at Lee dorm and I made many a batch of chili on our “super secret and highly illegal hot plates”. We typically stuck to cayenne and habañero, and that was plenty of punch for me. We discovered hot-plate chinese food and once made some chili with left over tien tsin peppers, but they seemed pretty much like cayennes so we never tried it again…
Dudes in Alpha’s post are just bat-sh*t crazy….
I got too wrapped up in finishing tax season today and didn’t make it to Ft. Mill to get the Reapers. Hopefully he’ll have 2-3 plants left when I get back from my trip and can get things seriously planted. We’re being invaded by the canker worms right now so I’m probably just as well off in delaying planting the garden.
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
My soil suuuccckkkssss. Also, I’m learning plants require all manner of wildly different conditions to grow properly.
But that’s mostly because my soil doesn’t meet the needs of ANY plant other than dandelions.
The blackberries seem hale, but they’re effectively a weed anyway.
I wanted that white picket fence, hometown USA, perfectly green manicured lawn. After hours of labor, I like CDs let whatever grow three inches and mow it philosophy.
pakfan, for those who do not want to mow often but still want a decent lawn CENTIPEDE. It is referred to as the lazy man’s grass since you can let if grow for weeks without mowing. While having runners it is not as aggressive as bermuda in that respect. It will grow almost anywhere and is best grown from sprigs (although seeds can work). Lot’s of places sell sod and you can just use 1 foot square pieces to get a lawn growing with minimum watering once the roots take hold. It will choke out most weeds and requires very little in the way of fertilizer to do well. LAZY MAN’S GRASS.
Smarter than the average bear
I always thought sensimilla was the lazy man’s grass. 🙂
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy. Mao Zedong
Yogi the negative I’ve experienced with centipede is it’s just not resilient with regard to traffic. When we moved into our house in 2005 we had a good (not great) stand of centipede in the front and back yard. Between the dog and the kids, the back yard is basically only 25% centipede. I’ve still got about 80% coverage in the front yard, but I anticipate the kids’ electric tractor and four wheeler are gonna have that down to 50% by next spring. I’m sure this is common knowledge and I’m not telling you guys anything you don’t already know.
All that said I haven’t done very good with regular maintenance. I’d basically put out weed and feed or fertilizer once a year and I aerated maybe 3 times.
I’ve got some St. Augustines coming in from my neighbor’s front yard and I’m hoping it will really take over everywhere. My laziness really has me leaning to CD’s approach to the lawn.WRT the garden, I recently planted my okra seeds but haven’t done anything since. I’ll get the old lady to go get me some pepper slips to put in this weekend (habaneros, jalapenos, hot & sweet banana) and I may plant a few lima and/or green beans. Cuc seeds will also go in this weekend weather permitting.
DSD, 10-10-10 is your friend. Centipede is not a high nitrogen grass which is what most weed and feeds are. I’ve got 3 dogs in my backyard and the centipede survives the winters with them. I do aerate a bit but not extensively every other year. Feed the pede some 10-10-10 or even better find some tobacco fertilizer that is low nitrogen and pop some ironite to it, I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at how much better it does. I’ve been mowing it and growing it for 50 years, mine greened up this week and it’s beautiful.
Smarter than the average bear
Used to love gardening when I had a house with a yard. Tomatoes, okra, many varieties of hot peppers and sweet peppers. If you like peppers and can find something called an Italian sweet pepper, plant them instead of bell peppers. They bear better, are more tolerant, tasty and grow to a beautiful Wolfpack red if you leave them on the vine long enough. And you have enough of them that you can eat plenty of green ones while you’re waiting for a few to ripen up.
Grass, however, is an emissary from Satan. I hate cutting grass with every fiber of my soul. If I ever move back into a house, I’m looking into Astroturf.
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy. Mao Zedong
Sure is a lot of grass in Kentucky! Cowdog will appreciate this…Stopped at Keeneland on Wednesday for the 6th and 7th races. Bet 5 horses and collected money on 3…Actually, my wife won on both of her bets and I won on 1 of 3…
Lake Michigan doesn’t smell like the Atlantic and there’s no tide! Into Chitown today!
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
I have a couple of banana plants. I topped and wrapped them over the winter so the stalks stayed intact. I had one tall one that I’m hoping will reach 10 feet this year. It already has one large leaf with more on the way. They rarely fruit up here, but they are nice to look at. 🙂
The gardening thread is BACK!!! I was really enjoying this thread and then we went through the week from hell culminating in us having to bury our beloved German Shepherd Dog Moose who was my wife’s constant companion/shadow and her true soulmate. Tough time.
But it is gardening season, so that helps. Someone way back in the thread asked where I’m from and that’s way up in the NW part of Ashe County. 2 miles from the Voles and 5 miles from the Hokies. My gardens are at just shy of 4000 feet elevation. Gotta be tough and fast to grow up here.
I do everything organically and have been for over 40 years. We were in the certified organic vegetable business until a couple of years ago. Lots of folks still don’t understand organics very well. Certainly some practice organic by neglect but that’s not really the essence of it. It’s also way more than just avoiding certain “chemical” products and fertilizers. I use many techniques that focus on building the soil over time. There are some good organic fertilizers available, mostly based on chicken manure. I am going to be fertilizing my 15 acres of meadow with it this week if it dries out enough. I also keep it limed properly and oversees every 5 years o so. I keep a strong population of clover seeded because clovers actually capture nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil.
Our lawn is mostly creeping red fescue mixed with white clover. Again, the clover helps fix fertilizer for free. I also will put down an inch or so of black cow every few years. That’s it. I mow it rather close in the spring a few times and then leave it at 2-3 inches after that. Healthy grass chokes out the weeds. I get a few dandelions and I dig out a few of them. Dandelions are a great indication that your soil is too compact.
Great discussion on peppers. My father’s people are from Barbados where the Scotchbonnet is king. I’ve always thought that they were more or less habaneros. Too much heat for my bride’s senses. I grow a few jalapeños and a scotch bonnet, but I do about a half dozen Joe E Parkers. I think they are considered an Anaheim chile. I also grow a few of the Italian peppers mentioned before. Corno de Toro (Horn of the Bull). They are sweet and real nice. Peppers are really easy to preserve. We just cut them up into usable slices or chunks and freeze them on cookie sheets and pop them into ziploc bags. You can just grab as many as you want for chili or whatever.
I’m big into edible landscaping. I had a vision some years ago of having my fence along the driveway covered with roses (RED) and raspberries (WHITE blossoms) to make a living Wolfpack fence. So the roses bloomed later than the berries and the berries choked out the roses. But now, we get gallons and gallons of red raspberries. Again, all you have to do is spread them out on one of those cookie trays with the lip around it and freeze and bag those suckers. I also preserve a bunch of raspberry sorbet. We have several blueberry bushes scattered around. Thye freeze super easy, too.
We love fresh cukes and do several varieties of those. Somebody mentioned having some problems growing them. Most of the issues with dukes are directly or indirectly due to them dang cucumber beetles, the spotted ones and the stripy ones. They can devour your seedlings overnight and if they just nibble on them they spread all kinds of viruses and stuff. Prior to bloom, I dust with diatomaceous earth. After the dukes blossom, I stop that so as to protect the bees. I also use a technique called “trap cropping.” In this case, I always plant a winter squash variety called Blue Hubbard at the ends of each row of squash and cukes.. For whatever reason, these Blue Hubbards are like crack to those duke beetles. They will swarm it and mostly ignore the other stuff. Then you can concentrate your spraying on the masses. It really works.
I’ll leave it at that for now. I enjoy sharing some of my decades of experience with gardening/farming. It’s always fun to learn from others.
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