Hoeing

A hoe is my best weapon in the arsenal against weeds. Very simple. Every time it rains, a thin crust forms on the surface of the soil. As soon as that crust dries out I brake it up with my hoe. The thickness of the crust is usually 1/4 inch to 1 inch. This is very easy to do physically if you do it every time it rains. By braking the crust the path of osmosis between the air and the soil will be broken and transfer of water between soil and air will stop. That (poor man mulch) will conserve moisture and make your garden grow better. When the sun shines on that loose soil the soil temperature goes way up and your garden will grow better. As oxygen penetrates the soil the billions of micro-organisms in the soil will multiply rapidly and that will make your garden grow better. A consolation prize in all of this is a weed free garden like mine.

Hoe

My hoe has not been used for 4 1/2 months but it is in the same condition it was when I put it away last fall. (Please forgive the lens flare)

Seeds

Time to get my seeds. The first step is to go through a seed catalog and make a list of all vegetable I'm going to grow this year. I already know the varieties I want after many years of trial and error. This process takes about ten minutes. Then off to the store to purchase the seeds. Blue Lake green beans, Detroit Dark Red beets, Gypsy broccoli, Stonehead cabbage, Danvers Half Long carrots, NK 199 Yellow sweet corn, Tasty Green cucumber, Italian parsley, Genovese Italian basil, Tiede lettuce, Hale's Best muskmelon, Clemson Spineless okra, Green Arrow peas, Jack O' Lantern pumpkin, Bloomsdale Long-Standing spinach, Waltham Butternut squash, Mammoth Table Queen/Royal Acorn squash, Zucchini Dark squash, and Crimson Sweet watermelon.

Onions

I've ordered my onion plants from Dixondale Farms. Walla Walla, Copra, and Mars are the varieties. They will arrive on March 30 which is about as early as I can plant them in my area. I've bought onion plants in local markets in the past with terrible results. Like 50% to 90% of the onions went to seed. Not good. The plants from Dixondale Farms have been very good. The pic is from the 2006 crop of Walla Wallas.

Weed Free

In 2010 I will be planting my garden in its present location for 41 consecutive years. This blog is to record the success of my garden. The first plantings will start about April 1st and of course it will be weed free.

Larry's Weed Free Garden

Larry's weed free vegetable garden. Photo taken 7/18/2006