Taking Care of Weeds, the Organic Way

Weeding is part of every garden's task list, but for an organic gardener, it's much more challenging than it is for more conventional agriculturalists. Instead of reaching for a bottle of chemical herbicide, a little more elbow grease, and sometimes some creativity must be used. The museum's garden has been maintained chemical-free and we reap the benefits with good harvests, great biodiversity, and little-to-know impact from pests, but weeds are an obstacle that we fight daily.

Our two main intruders are Bermuda grass and nut grass. Most Southeast Texas have these in their yards and they are the bane of any gardener's existence. Bermuda grass is an invasive plant that arrived from, well, Bermuda, but it is popular because of its fast, low-growing foliage and durability. It's aggressive and some gardeners even resort to calling it, "devil grass."

The rhizomatous nut grass, which got its name from its underground tubers, is considered one of the worst weeds. Pulling this weed by hand is almost done in vain, as any tuber, rhizome, or root left in the ground can sprout a new crop of healthy grass, which can quickly sprout several other new plants in no time.

Much to our dismay, both grasses thrive in dry, hot climates, and conventional weeding is almost futile. Most resources recommend resorting to toxic chemicals, like RoundUp, but these applications can leach to other areas of the garden, even if used nearby or on paths. There are organic options, like Avenger, but they must be applied several times to these persistent plants.

We are currently trying a technique called soil solarization on our garden paths. This is done by laying thick, clear plastic over wet weeds for several weeks. The warm sun essentially cooks the soil, making it uninhabitable, so it must be done in stages if used on areas where seeds will be sown. We are testing the process on our paths first to see how well it will work.

We hope our patience pays off and will keep note of the progress. Keep your fingers crossed!

Soil solarization is used as an organic technique for ridding gardens of weeds. Thick plastic is applied over wet weeds to "cook" the soil, killing the weeds and any seeds or tubers up to 12" underground. 

Final Summer Harvests, Now on to Fall Planning

With summer drawing to a close, and hints of autumn in the air, we are gearing up for another growing season--Fall! With our new seeds purchased and ready, we are working to prepare the beds for planting in the coming weeks.

Summer was great for us at the garden and we had some good harvests in the new beds. We expanded our gardening space by removing the four raised beds that had been in place since 2009, and took over the entire space turning it into one big raised bed with paths and installed an arbor and sitting area. In the few months the garden has been in place, a whole ecosystem has developed as a result of our organic methods and companion planting. The garden is alive with several types of bees, countless butterflies, assassin bugs, ladybugs, and an array of birds. It's a heavenly sight especially with the bright-colored zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, and snapdragons to accent the space. 

Bumble bees buzz the passion vine to harvest sweet pollen from each flower. The vine is a Texas native and attracts gulf fritillary butterflies as well as several types of bees.

As we prepare the beds for fall, we are working to clear away the expired vegetation and mapping out our plan for the new season. With our warm Southeast Texas climate, we are able to garden year-round by transitioning our crops to those which are cold-hardy. On the menu so far, we have dill, sugar snap peas, pumpkins, lettuces, kohlrabi, sweet peas, and more. We look forward to the cooler temps, making it more pleasant to be outside, and the new crops that are sure to be on our plates before long!

A sampling of the victory garden's summer harvests include okra, tomatoes, and crowder peas. Brightly-colored flowers attract beneficial insects--and museum visitors, alike.