Topic: Awwwww, Horse Hockey!

[Dianna]

Yep. We have it. Or will have it in the morning. Our neighbor has rented out her back yard for horses. Three acres + three horses = plenty of fertilizer for our gardens next year...

The owners of the horses told Virginia that they will have to start carting off the waste from the horses because they thought the back corner would not be a good spot for all that is being generated back there. I told her to tell them that if they wanted some place close to dump it, they could bring it over to our gardens. Jim will till it in and our gardens should be in much better condition next year when we plant. They will be over tomorrow to clean the field up and deliver it to us since we live right next door. We all benefit from it...

Virginia's home has been in the hands of a realtor all year because the land was getting too much for her to mow every week during the summer. I have been hoping that it wouldn't sell. Now the horses can "mow" the back field for her and our gardens get free fertilizer to boot and we keep Virginia at home where she needs to be. How's that for answered prayers?

[Triss]

A wonderful answer all the way around.  Prayers answered in a very good way.

[sunsoaker]

That is wonderful! It's always good when a "plan" benefits everyone involved.

[barleychown]

It's so great that it works for everyone involved! 

Your gardens are going to love the horse hockey. Do you know if the horses are being fed anything besides the grass? And has the grass gone to seed? I ask because horses are terribly inefficiant at digesting seed, so much passes straight through them.

[bayou girl]

that is wonderful dianna!  although, i was just thinking barley's question.

[Dianna]

I would bet that the grass has gone to seed, Sarah. Virginia's daughter was coming over to mow on the weekends and missed the weekend before the horses came. At this point though, we really don't care if it has. If it will just improve our garden soil, we will be happy. We had weeds all in the garden this year...

The horses are also fed something else besides grass. I am not sure what it is, but they come over every day to feed and water them.

Jim is looking for another plow attachment. He said if he gets what he wants, he will be digging up gardens all over this land. I won't care as long as some can be flower gardens...

[landofoz]

Congrats, Dianna!  We use horse manure in our gardens and get the best results from it!  Second best is goat manure.  Your garden is going to be awesome next year.  You should mulch the gardens heavily to help keep the weeds down.  It works wonders for me.

[Penny]

Excellent Dianna.....the gardens will love it!

[Dianna]

Sarah Loo, I plan on smothering those weeds next year. We sure had a lot of them pop up in the garden this year when Jim couldn't get out there and hoe.

The horse poo didn't make it over here yesterday. The owner got busy at home and couldn't come clean up the back field as they had planned. He will be coming over sometime this week to do it and will bring it to me then.

If I didn't have to worry about falling while bending over (orthostatic hypotension), I believe I would go poop scoop for them.

[bestofour]

I have a friend who has horses and told me this past Friday that horse poop makes for the most weeds you can imagine.  She's going to plant a winter cover crop this year to try and keep the weeds under control.  She's tried putting down cardboard then compost mixed with the poop and says she still had weeds on weeds.  I'm not trying to discourage you but try and get those weeds before putting on the poop.

[Dianna]

Sheri, I have been worried about the weeds too, but don't think that it could be any worse than what we had this past year...





Do you see the pea vines in there? Or the tomatoes?

When the deer decided our garden was a buffet placed there especially for them, Jim lost heart with the garden and let the weeds have it...

Will not some of the weed seeds be destroyed by it being tilled in with the weeds that are already in the garden? Won't the nitrogen of the fresh poop combined with the weeds make it hot enough to kill them?

[Tina]

You probably won't have more weeds than you had last year, Dianna. But you sure will be feeding them better. I don't see where the horse manure will harm what you have going already. The deer may still be your biggest problem.
For deer there are soap shavings to think about. And on another site I heard about spraying egg mixed with water to deter them too.

[Jessica]

I swear by Liquid Fence for deer but it is a little spendy.  Always works for me!

[bestofour]

Oh my.  Some of you close your ears but I have to say Round Up.

[Tina]

I also use Roundup, Sheri. Actually a cheaper wannabe that Walmart carries, Eliminator. But it uses the same basic chemical as Roundup.
And last night Jenn found this article about it and its use.

[Tina]

Well that didn't work like I wanted it to. But the link works

[bestofour]

What didn't work?  That's a good article.

[Dianna]

I fixed the link for you, Tina, and read the article. Very interesting...

I am thinking about an article that I read sent to me by Mike McGorarty for flower beds. It stated that if you till the ground and let the seed sprout, till it again, let the seed sprout, and keep doing that until the seed quit sprouting, your gardens will be relatively weed-free and you will be able to plant your flower/vegetable seed without having to worry about the weeds rearing their ugly heads if you mulch after the seed start sprouting. Have I confused anyone yet besides myself?   I will have to hunt the newletter down on his site.

My thought is that if the horse poo is tilled in until it quits sprouting, it should provide the nourishment for the vegetables and we won't have to worry about the weeds come Spring. What do y'all think?

Jim did the egg/water mixture one year for the sunflowers the deer kept eating. Maybe he needs to remember to do that again? It seemed to work then. Thanks for the reminder...

Jessica, we have read about the Liquid Fence but didn't know if it really worked. Thanks for the endorsement in case the deer decide that they like water/egg/dish liquid next Spring...

If all else fails, Sheri, we may go the Roundup route...

[Tina]

Roundup won't do a thing for the deer. Except kill off their forage. But if you have large areas to cover and can't pull all of the weeds then a spray is an answer.

[bestofour]

that's a lot of tilling Dianna.  I'm going to try it this year though.  Or rather Johnny is going to try it.  (he just doesn't know it yet)

[Jim]

What didn't work?  That's a good article.

It sure is.  I use a generic Glyphosate that I get from the feed store around the house so I don't have to use the weedeater every time I mow.  I also use it up and down the driveway to keep the grass from creeping out into the road.  This year I even sprayed down the neighbors fence because I had 15 gallons mixed up and needed somewhere to put it.

Just read the 3 replies that were posted while I was typing.
 

* Jim is glad that he trained Dianna on the use of the little tiller! 

I've never used Roundup in the garden.

[Dianna]

*Dianna is glad she knows how to drive the tractor!*

 

[Jim]

*Dianna is glad she knows how to drive the tractor!*

 

Only problem is the tiller hasn't quite learned how to attach itself to the tractor yet.

[bestofour]

  Work on that one Jim.

I have never used a weed eater and have never ridden the tractor.  I'm not begging to get involved in that if I don't have too.  I used to tiller but Johnny got a new one that weighs a million pounds and I can't handle it.  Not crying over that either.

[barleychown]

Weed seeds need light to germinate. So, if you mulch heavy like Sarah loo suggests, you would be blocking the light.

The problem with tilling to kill weeds is that most weed seeds are viable for many, many years...each time you turn the soil over, you are exposing more old seeds. I suppose eventually you could kill them all...