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Bindweed: one of the more invasive, tenacious weeds

7/31/2017

 
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How can one avoid or eliminate this suffocating weed?
​1) Amend your soil and fill your garden with healthy strong plants. 
2) Dig down and dig out the root (often 12 "deep).
3) Cut back/Prune repeatedly to ground level to weaken and eventually kill.
4) Pull out and remove before flowering and seeding that spreads then to others' plots.
5) Another successful strategy is to mulch the area after weeding by laying down 5-6 sheets of overlapping newspaper or cardboard over all bare soil, and then cover with 3” of ramial wood chips.
6) Please try to trash all bindweed trimmings and avoid placing them in the compost bin. However, our compost piles do also heat up to 140 degrees Farhenheit to kill any possible weed reproduction.

 
RIGC member, Karen Lee, has prepared her own bindweed publication with excellent pictures of varied stages of growth for this plant, which can be downloaded below.

This link provides another bindweed discussion from an organic gardening blog with pictures of field bindweed; and this link will take you to a clear explanation of hedge bindweed from the RHS in England, but please be reminded that at RIGC, we keep our methods natural and do not allow pesticides that damage the environment and our health long term.  
 
If one weeding nightmare is not enough for you, beware, there is an even worse weed that appears only on a small western edge of the garden because it spreads from an area in the DEP site: Japanese knotweed. 
 



bindweed_5.31.17 by K Lee.pdf
File Size: 3746 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Soil Care, Garden Care, and Organic Mulch

7/31/2017

 
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Standards Chair, Beverly Shutes, offered two mulching workshops in July on how to use quality organic mulch correctly to build your garden soil and prevent weeds. RIGC has received wood chips from several Roosevelt Island trees because VP Dave Nisthaus and Beverly recently asked the DEP site workers for the chipped remains of a cottonwood tree that had to be removed for the water tunnel work. As a result, we received a large, free pile of locally sourced ramial mulch. 
 

This method of wood chip mulching is based on the no-till "Back to Eden" garden method, as taught by Paul Gautschi, a renowned arborist.  (http://barbolian.com/permaculture-by-nature/)  It both builds the soil and avoids too much soil disturbance. RIGC Landscape committee members have seen the benefits for our perimeter beds as plant growth and soil health have been enhanced. The need for weeding has been reduced in areas where we followed these instructions. The attached document below provides further instructions and careful reasoning for the specifics. 
 
Other kinds of garden care methods include plants as mulch which espouse close plantings methods such as in our own Rose Garden by Marjorie Marcallino and in some of our award winning gardens by Julie Lipp and Elizabeth Bolden. This article and interview of Claudia West from Margaret Roach at A Way To Garden explains these ideas further.  

weed_prevention by BShutes docx
File Size: 27 kb
File Type: docx
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Seasonal Planting Photo and Link to Plants are the Mulch by Margaret Roach

Learning about Gardening:  Mid-week Middle Schoolers

7/31/2017

 
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​Andrew, Jake, and Annelisa all tried the pilot program for learning about gardening that was offered by Julia Ferguson in July.  Plot C-30 on the east side became the temporary site for this weekly gardening and learning. We used the following checklist options for each lesson:
  • Connect: Close your eyes, listen & breathe, then walk a bit and observe
  • Compost: Check, add, turn, or spin
  • Grow: Plant seeds, thin seedlings, "dead head", weed, or water
  • Clean: Rake, sweep, care for and store tools
  • Observe: Measure, draw, look around & breathe​
Students planted radishes, lettuce greens, marigolds, basil seedlings, zinnias, cosmos, and a wildflower mix.  They learned to identify certain plants, harvested green beans and squash, and measured sweet corn growth. They learned about compost and tried both sifting and the trammel. One big question that came up was about pollinators and bees.  What do these insects actually do to help plants and vice versa? So we looked up details about plant fertilization and reproduction. Ecological concept connections included cycles, interdependence, diversity, and flow. Despite the summer heat, we made lavender wands, a plant wreath, and were able take home some herb cuttings or plants in pots. Stay tuned for more news from late August and possible September classes.

July 2017 Community Service Days

7/30/2017

 
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Unlike dear, clever Tom Sawyer, RIGC members pitch in regularly to work together on projects.  Many members do more than than the required 3 hours of service for the club each season. This year we chose some hot, sunny days for two summer work opportunities to maintain the infrastructure of the gardens. 

On 15 July, Saturday 9:30 to 1:30 volunteers contributed to landscape work, pruning, weeding, path clean up, painting, general repairs, and a mulching workshop.
On 22 July, Saturday 9:30 to 1:30 volunteers contributed to AVAC runs, more painting, composting, another mulching workshop, and work in the Rose Garden.

It really does take all of us -- 132 plot holding families and the Associates -- working together to make our garden grow.

If you were unable to make these weekend dates, please contact rigardenclub@gmail.com for Community Service tasks that can be done at anytime.

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