Jen Fulkerson

Two of my weed enemies are Johnson grass and Bermuda grass. I pull them out, and pile them on top of a weed patch I'm not going to have time for. A nice thick layer of weeds, seem to kill and suppress weeds for a good amount of time.  It doesn't look very good, but in some places I really don't care. It also solves the problem of what to do with the weeds when I do get around to pulling them. Win, win.

Neglect. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. I was doing some much needed weeding in my garden and unearthed a very annoyed toad.  An old pallet ended up with miscellaneous stuff on top, and I see lizards run into it all the time.  We had to remove an old tree. A good chunk of the tree and branches are in a pile. This year I redid my rose garden. Johnson grass had grown up and taken over the garden. When I cleaned it up I found 2 bird nest. I don't really like being a messy person, but at least the critters can benefit from it.
The funny thing is I have intended to build a bug hotel, and some toad shelters, and they never seem to make it to the top of my never ending to do list. Yet many of the jobs that haven't made it to the top of the list have done it for me

Gary are you talking about Malabar spinach?

Thanks for the positive encouragement.
I'm lousy  at guessing measurements. Maybe 1/2 to an inch of straw that was this summers mulch so it's had months of sun, water and soil critters to start the decomposition process. Then maybe two or three inches of veggie chop and drop. About three inches of bagged organic compost and soil.
The experiment started today. I planted peas in the bed with the chop and drop, and in another bed that really didn't have anything left to chop up. . This bed didn't drop as much as the other. So it got about the same amount of bagged organic compost and soil as the one with the C&D. It will be interesting to see if one does better than the other. It's definitely going to require patience. Planting so late everything will grow slowly. I have even had years where the peas stop growing , and just hang out in the garden for what feels like forever. Then when they are ready start growing and produce like there was never a delay.
I will also be planting broccoli, bok choy, onion, marigolds, and dill seedlings, and carrots, beets, turnip, parsnips, cilantro, lettuce , and radish seeds. We have mild winters dipping down to low thirties, once in a great while high twenties . It's how we get away with growing these plants. I'm grateful because it gets to warm in the spring for most of the plants I'm growing now, and a lot of them are our favorites. If I would have managed to get them started in August we would have gotten a fall crop and a very early spring crop. Unfortunately I just couldn't get my seeds to germinate. Oh well better late than never.
Thanks

I'm running behind for sure, but I'm going. I probably should have prepared my raised beds 4, maybe 6 weeks ago.
I chopped and dropped all the plants in the bed. I didn't worry about the leaves, but the thick stems I cut about an inch give or take a little. I spread it in a relatively even layer. Then I added some organic alfalfa pellets. Topped with organic compost and organic soil. I was happy with myself because my beds are hugel beet style, so they sink, and usually needs topping off. Chop and drop reduced the soil for this bed by at least half.
Now the reason I'm wondering if it was a mistake. I have lots of veggies seeds and seedlings that need to be planted. The seeds will do fine in the beginning because of the top soil/compost layer, but what happens when the roots, especially root crop veggies hit that chopped layer. The same question for the seedlings.
When I planted in my food forest want-a-be that's covered in wood chips I would pull the wood chips back and fill the hole with soil, and plant in that. Should I do this with the chop and drop?
I was so pleased with the progress. Easier than removing everything to the compost pile. Lots of organic matter, return the nutrients back to the soil. Have to buy and use less bagged soil, which is one of my goals, but one not achieved over night. I was pretty happy until I started thinking about having a layer of undecomposed organic matter. I did add the alfalfa pellets to add nitrogen, but it's still a layer of chunky stuff, not soil.
I'm looking forward to what the smart people of permies have to say. I have other beds that have lots of old plants. should I do something different?  Thanks

I can't believe how fast the roselle is growing. It looked healthy, but grew very slow. I think since we started to have cool temps at night it started to shoot up. Until a few weeks ago I really didn't think it would bloom at all. Now a couple of them are about 3 feet. That's still pretty small, but they are all going to bloom. it's pretty exciting. I'm so glad I took a chance and planted late. I really don't know if direct sow was better than transplant. The roselle I planted last year was in my native soil, planted near sunflower. It was outside the garden area, so just didn't get a lot of care. This roselle was planted in a raised bed with carrots I started in the heat of summer, so it was very carefully watched over. I did start roselle this winter for transplant, but I started them way to early. They did well, but I the temperature swings in the greenhouse were huge over 100 in the day, and 40's at night, I also didn't water as consistently as I should have. Quite honestly I don't know how anything survived.  Maybe next year I will try some of transplant, and direct sow others.

I'm ready liking the little terracotta pots. They definitely dry out faster than the other pots, but I can tell at a glance if they need water.

I have also decided an impatient seed starter. Maybe I'm to use to starting seeds in the house useing a heat mat, and grow lights. I few times in this fall outside seed starting journey I have given up on certain seeds germinating. Other seeds have come up, and I have been bottom watering. Then one day a seed pops up that I had given up on. After this happening a few times, I realize I'm to impatient, and not considering temp changes making some seeds take longer than expected. I'm so glad I have been bottom watering, otherwise I probably would have killed these slower seeds.

The straw mulch worked pretty well. It definitely last longer than the shredded cardboard mulch.
It's time (late actually) to transition from the summer veggies to the winter veggies. Because my beds are filled hugel style there's always sinking, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. My question is should I pull the straw off, top off the beds, then put it back?  Or should I leave it where it is, top off the beds, and add new straw? If I don't remove it I will use less soil to top off. Will leaving it cause depletion of nitrogen? Can I off set that by adding organic alfalfa pellets? Is it just better to remove it?
Thanks

I have been worried about these bees. We have lots of wood structures, and don't know if I have ever noticed holes. This year I have had a lot in my garden. I thought they were bumblebees, but my daughter says they are carpenter bees. They were large all black, and I think they were fuzzy. I was stung by a bee as a child. The doctor said I was allergic. He said it's possible I would grow out of it, or it could get worse and possibly be dangerous. I have never been stung since. I'm careful, but find if I leave them alone, they don't bother me. So I haven't taken a close look.  I'm always happy to see any and all pollinators buzzing around my garden. I just hope they aren't damaging my home too.

I took a picture of my molting hen today.