Alternative Gardening, Hydroponic, Aquaponic, Hugulkulture

I have used both methods of control and have seen no damage from DE and seldom have damage from soap/detergent. Very sensitive plants are sometime injured some from detergents, but I now generally use Murphy's Oil Soap and have seen no damage at all. If things get out of control and nothing simple works, you can place a plastic trash bag (depending on size of plant) over the plant and spray pyrethrin into the bag and seal it overnight to knock the population back.

 

We hada large 5x20' mound so it took a couple years to be ready to use.

 

Our best by far was the hydroponics system,it was c3times as fast and more productive than any alternate so far.

About 9 years or so ago.Hydroponics





Squash grown in reservour,

 

Clearer picture of reservour,we were growing cabbage in this one below,give an idea of what you can grow in hydroponic systems.
Lookingat these makes me want to set it back up,maybe?



Lettuce we grew,


Nice roots,



Squash in resrvour,


Hot peppers in buckets,

 

Seeing these pictures makes me want to set it back up. Maybe a small ststem in the house under artificial light and near a window with morning and noon sun.

 

My last huge-lkultur garden project. What a job that was working with manual aka primitive tools.

Hügelkultur build. I had already dug the 3x6x20x hole with a shovel, added the small limbs aka brush and dirt.









Covered qith hay,no straw down here,and ready to plant,

 

First planting,that all folks,
"

 

This was done in 2017 or so.

 

I don't think so John, our looks like a weed garden now a haven for the weeds.
I told hubby which is usually busy with autos and other things to use the weed eater on the damn thing then I'll take over, but it is a real mess right now, since I had health problems it has been let go. Matter of fact I was weeding the mound when I had my stroke. And next attempt was a horrible case of Chigers.
Docs sent me to drug store to lower BP and it went down too fast in 30 minutes and caused me to have a stroke, other doc said they never should have done that,I should have been admitted and BP brought down slow.

I brought this subject back up after duscussing the subject with @Thomas Stillhere on another thread I can't find,lol..

 

Cover it well, maybe leaves straw or even weed clothe.

 

John just skip thru the video if you like, basically most like the weed covering,

 

As you can see here, I like doing things the hard way. I use to pile on a at least 4 inches of leaves, now its shade clothe or to heck with it.





Putting them into the leaf pen,


After all this then I had to pitchfork them all back into or wheelbarrow or drag to garden, Now its weed clothe cover and leave.

 

I have used all kinds of weed barriers from simple poly to a heavy-duty weed barrier. @Marie Mallery I know it would apply to you since it worked in South Georgia. @John Brunner it would probably work for you as well since your summers are hot. This was the method I have previously mentioned with trickle irrigation or tape covered with plastic, covered with about a foot of good straw. It worked marvelously for my garden in the deep South, as the straw and the water kept the soil cool enough for things to grow throughout the heat of summer and absolutely NO WEEDS grew. Like the guy in the video, I, too, have used the various cloth barriers, and the only one to absolutely work was something called GeoTek, which is relatively cheap here (about $1 per foot at 12 feet wide. There is also an 18-foot wide version that I haven't used. It comes in woven and non-woven, the woven supposedly a bit porous (although I haven't found it to be particularly so. The only down side is that it can provide a shelter for critters to hide under. All-in-all, my favorite method of weed control is this. Not only is it a bit of fun, but it also gets rid of little critters--everything from chiggers to slugs and snails. You cannot use it if the weather is very dry or you have a bunch of dry grass around. A light "dusting" from the weed dragon before you plant gets rid of all the little weeds just stating to grow too.