A question on garden land and getting it ready for next year. I have a area roughly 100x100 that I use my tractor tiller to work the land. Since I have got the tiller I have not plowed the land up. I usually have some soil sent off each year to test to see what I need. I add whatever is needed. Due to that stuff tends to grow good there. Being that it is better enriched it seems like it is a magnet for every kind of weed or grass known to man. My problem the last few years is that I can not control the weeds or grass. I can clean it and in a few days its overrun with grass again. I don't have enough spare time after work to clean it like it currently needs. My question is what can I do this fall in order to help control the weeds. This piece of land has never had any kind of weed killer or poison sprayed on t and I would like to keep it that way. One thing I have been curious about is this. I have been wondering if since I have not plowed it under good and only tillering it to about 4 to 6 inches if that is allowing the grass to grow better. I wounder if I plow it down and then disk it up this fall and then tillering it in the spring would help control the weeds. Each year it seems the weeds get twice as bad as they were the year before.
Do you mulch? Mulch is great at feeding soil, while smothering weeds and their seeds. Tilling just turns things over. It doesn't do anything to stop the seeds from germinating. Another option is to put the chickens to work. Fence off the area that needs worked, set up a simple shelter and let the chickens do the work. Thier droppings will add nourishment to soil. The birds will scratch up the soil, effectively turning it. This will disrupt the root systems of the weeds. The birds will also eat the greens and seeds, leaving a patch of ground ready for growing. Once you plant, mulch in between the seed rows to keep weeds down.
I have my chickens on the opposite side of my back yard and the other side is the garden. I may build a second chicken coop close to the garden sometime in the future. My wife and I are inheriting about 3 acres from her moms estate so over the next year so when I fence that area off I hope to enclose the garden as well. I will try mulching next year.
