Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[chickadoodles]

Beautiful pics cavemanrich!

 

[oldhen2345]

OK so I live in East Texas and have a serious outbreak of a bunchgrass in my chicken yard. I certainly do not want it to spread to the dog yard near the house. What can I use to kill it off with out killing off the chickens? I am trying to encourage St. Augustine grass, but have more than enough weeds. In the pics, you can see the difference between the dog yard and the lumpy chicken yard. It is really hard to dig up those bunches with a hoe and the mower really doesn 't do a great job mowing it. Any ideas?

If this looks familiar, I accidentally posted on the New in Texas thread that I was looking at before this. LOL.
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[lazy gardener]

My understanding is that those tufty grasses have longer roots and are actually desirable in places like chicken runs b/c they can't be as easily destroyed.

 

[oldhen2345]

My understanding is that those tufty grasses have longer roots and are actually desirable in places like chicken runs b/c they can't be as easily destroyed.

I don't mind these grasses around the coop, but being in the whole yard is making it too hard to mow. I am surprised my poor ride mower still works. After mowing the chicken yard, I feel like I have had a work out. Between the million chicken divits and pits and the hard bunch grass, getting through mowing is a trip. If I can keep that stuff centered around the coop and out even 20-30 feet, it would be ok. But golly, I don't want it in the dog yard or the front yard.

 

[rjohns39]

I have a mixed flock of turkeys, chickens and ducks. They can pretty much remove any unwanted vegetation... And if that doesn't work, I put the pigs in the area for a few weeks. Only problem with my approach is they eliminate everything, roots and all. Good news is that once I move them, I can plan what I want there and it's already well fertilized. No chemicals needed.

 

[GardenTillers44]

What can I use to kill it off with out killing off the chickens?

I mix a gallon of apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup of table salt and a teaspoon of liquid Dawn and put it in a pump-up sprayer to kill the grass and weeds in a strip along our electric poultry mesh fence. The vinegar and salt do the killing and the soap helps it adhere to the plant long enough to do so. This mix has been widely mentioned on BYC for years, and I've never had any trouble with the chickens. If you are leary of it, you can try just the vinegar but it may not kill the roots. I usually cut the grass just prior to application for max effect.

 

[GardenTillers44]

We got back to the garden today, planting more onions, potatoes, and chard. Since the long range forecast is warm to past the frost date here, we went ahead and planted peppers, tomatoes and beans under the hoops. I pulled 6 penny nails out of the reclaimed boardwalk we salvaged last week and made 5 more 12' x 3' raised beds. That's it for now, it's hard enough to keep up with what we've got!

 

[GardenTillers44]

My understanding is that those tufty grasses have longer roots and are actually desirable in places like chicken runs b/c they can't be as easily destroyed.

I planted Little Bluestem native grass in our chicken yard for just that reason. It is deep-rooted and tough as nails and takes a beating from the chickens, drought, cold and is virtually disease and maintenance free. We used to live in Houston where St. Augustine was the standard yard grass. I would think SA might be a little delicate for constant abuse by the flock. That bunchgrass is surviving where other types may not.

 

[GardenTillers44]

Anybody ever use goats to clear brush? We have a hillside full of multiflora rose that is virtually impenetrable, and my wife is threatening to rent some goats to eat it into submission. I've seen the results of that at one of the neighbor's...the goats ate everything including the bark off the trees. That area looks like a wasteland now. Also I think only certain goats will eat the multiflora rose. I'm inclined to leave it be for the moment and look at the options.

 

[N F C]

Anybody ever use goats to clear brush? We have a hillside full of multiflora rose that is virtually impenetrable, and my wife is threatening to rent some goats to eat it into submission. I've seen the results of that at one of the neighbor's...the goats ate everything including the bark off the trees. That area looks like a wasteland now. Also I think only certain goats will eat the multiflora rose. I'm inclined to leave it be for the moment and look at the options.

We had goat when we lived in north FL. They did an excellent job of clearing the underbrush but that was mostly oak saplings...don't know what they would think of the multiflora rose.