Chris in Spokane, WA!

DiggingWeasel

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Hey everybody! My name's Chris. I'm a second-year gardener in the Spokane, Washington area.

Like most of us I'm sure, I found Self Sufficient Me in 2020, while thinking about growing food again. We always had a small garden growing up, for a few additional items to enjoy. Now that I have a little more yard space, I decided to grow as much as I reasonably can.

Last year I started with a few raised beds. Got some great squash, strawberries, and even a pumpkin. We planted an apple tree too. This coming year I'd like to grow much more. I have more beds, and a small greenhouse in the works!

The challenges I'm facing, if anyone has input:
  • The home's previous owner let weeds run rampant. I need to clear them from big chunks of my yard. I'd prefer not using weed killer if a better option exists.
  • We tried for blueberries - not so much. The plants are still alive, but just barely. I'd like to reinvigorate them.
  • I'm trying to take out some short trees, but they've wound their roots down a ways and started to break my fence. I can cut them back, but I need those roots out.
Glad to have discovered this forum! Now, off to hunt through the archives...
 

Mandy Onderwater

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Welcome to the forum @DiggingWeasel !

Yes, many gardeners started during the crisis where food was harder to get by.
Nowadays I live with my granddad and sad to say the property is completely overrun by weeds. I used to drive the rideon mower on a really low setting to really knock the weeds back down. And depending on what weeds you have, either this can work, or you may wish to invest in a weed puller. I may do some localised poisoning as the guinnea grass we have here is an uphill battle, where I simply cannot keep up.
Blueberries love acidic soil. There is a fair change your soil's PH isn't right for them, or that there aren't enough nutrients to get by.

Gardening can be such an amazing experience! When I started, I had a tomato plant in some soil I dug up in the garden. It was alive, but never truly thrived. Turns out the soil was too dense (clay) and it was utterly deprived of nutrients. When I finally invested in a bag of quality soil (in my case Searles Premium Potting mix), plants just grew and thrived without me even batting an eye at them.
Well draining, well fertilised soil can do wonders for just about any plant.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and/or to share progress on your garden :D
 

Lunai

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Welcome to the forum!

I've found that weeds really don't like vinegar 😁 we have a 25% acidic vinegar where I put a 500ml into a 10l waterin can. Firstyou need to get rid of all the leaves, stems, flowers, the just pour the vinegar solution on. Our treatment lasted 2 months before the first new greens could be seen. So it needs to be repeated. But it gives you a little break from pulling out weeds and isn't as toxic as a weedkiller. And you can always raise the acidity. If you have much rain it gets washed out quicker.

With the blueberries: 🤔 maybe their soil isn't acidic enough... And add some good compost if you have. Our native blueberries really thrive in bright mixed woods beneath the deciduous and sofwood trees with tons of both needle and leaves as compost material.

As with the roots I know only one option: I would dig a trench at the fence and just cut all the big roots. Don't know if that helps in the long run tho 🤔
 

JP 1983

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The home's previous owner let weeds run rampant. I need to clear them from big chunks of my yard. I'd prefer not using weed killer if a better option exists.
The first question I would ask is "Can I eat that weed?"
 
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