Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[ducks4you]

About to weed and cover the stones around the house, again today.
MORE pictures later, BUT, here are 2 beautiful ceramic pots that DD's church was offering free for Mother's Day.
I have window shopped pots this year, and these two would probably have cost me around $75.00 !!
The guy couldn't make it out to clean my gutters yesterday. Just to be sure I moved these pots to an empty spot in my garlic bed so that he would not drop the ladder on them. Kinda Murphy's Law thing...

 

[ducks4you]

I have been putting down blue tarps and used plastic tablecloths that I have saved over the stones in the area between the house and sidewalk, south side of the house and 1/2 of the east side. I have been doing minimal weeding and I won't have time/energy to handle the weeds before and after my July knee surgery.
I have noticed that most professional gardeners are using HD plastic/rubber in between their growing rows and it must be for the same reason--"no.time.to.weed."
I have killed off several 2nd year burdocks growing there already.
One of them tried to push out a leaf under the tablecloth, but I caught it, and covered it again and put a brick over it.
I even killed off a 2nd year burdock growing right next to the barn by retrieving the round bottom of an old rubber feeding bucket that the ponies were using for a toy, and putting that on top of the burdock after chopping it down.
Pictures to follow in a few days.
At least it looks a lot neater and tidier, albeit a little bit "different."

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Oh how I despise burdock. It’s coming up everywhere in the pastures . I have been mowing very close to the ground to discourage growth . This weed is a seed spreader which comes in on the wind currents during winter storms. But it seems to be getting away from me and the mower. So will spray with a special pasture blend for weeds developed by the Oregon horticulture division at the state university. Also safe for farm stalk. Will have to wait til it stops raining. Then section off areas and spray . I have a 12 gallon sprayer I attach to the tractor that is efficient for the job sprays a wide swath or adjusts to a fine spray or also adjusts to pin point a single weed.

For pathways and other small areas I use cardboard placed on stepping stone walks and weed cloth with pea gravel. It works well with only a few weeds starting to sprout. Easy to pull as the weed cloth prevents them from rooting down deep in the clay soil. That’s when I need King Kong to pull those deep rooted tap weeds out. Sometimes I just clip some down to the ground and this helps discourage the weed in hotter weather during summers. Then again a pre emergent spread over areas also help especially when the garden area is a few acres.

 

[ducks4you]

I have experimented with a theory that is, so far working, for burdock and other deep rooted weeds on my property.
I take my shovel/spade, dig down close to the root, use it as a fulcrum to snap the weed above ground.
Then, with a nice hole right above the rest of the taproot, I put the top of the weed upside down to cover the taproot.
So far, it has killed off burdock and dandelions and thistles that have grown too big to otherwise deal with in my beds.
I have made my peace with many weeds, just that they don't belong where I want to plant other things.
I don't mind clover, purslane, and I certainly LOVE it when I see that turnips have spread to other beds.
2nd year they grow tall, make flowers and drops dozens of new seeds same season.
I am currently putting my wildflower garden back together.
In 2024 I didn't have the strength to weed it and many weeds took over. HOWEVER, several flowers said,
"NOT SO FAST!" and sprouting and are flowering despite this,like larkspur and sweet william.
For other weeding, I also am using cardboard AND I pulled weeds this morning in 1/2 beds north of my garage. I put down 5 black garbage bags secured with bricks to kill off the weeds there until I get back from my cruise in early June.
Although I sparingly use herbicide, mostly bc of strength/time constraints, I am not against their use.
I love PREEN, and if you buy the 6 month stuff, you can keep anything growing next to your vegetables for pretty much the whole season.
I do NOT use ANY insecticide.
I have noticed in the last 20 years that you don't get the shower of evening/night bugs on the car's windshield.
We live out amongst farming and I think that we killing off our insects to grow crops.
At least my 5 acres can be somewhat of a refuge.
I am not virtue signaling, just observing...

 

[ducks4you]

I cleaned up and hauled away the piles of weeding from the south side of the house, and dumped all in my bonfire spot in the north pasture.
I also took my lopper to the overgrown blackberry stalks and I discovered that all THREE of my roses there survived this mess from 2024!!!!
The "Abe Lincoln" red rose was already blooming, the Yellow Knockout came back, although it's 1/2 of it's 2022 height AND the red/orange--can't remember the name, but it was something out of the Caribbean--has 2 buds on it.
I will need to mow the rest of the stubbs down, put down cardboard and a tarp to keep these from coming back.
I planted those stupid THORNED blackberries over a decade ago, and they are the definition of a "bad boyfriend!"
Every Spring they come up covered with flowers, but if you wait for a harvest, there is....nothing.
I may also poison them.
My yellow iris also survived and has doubled twice. At some point I would like to plant some next to some black iris.