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Archive for June, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: A Treehugger’s Lament

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How to Get Rid of Grass the Easy Way

I am no novice to the noble act of sodbusting. I’ve broken shovels, pulled muscles, gained blisters. I can wield a shovel and make sod quake in its roots at the mere thought of what will happen when I rain my vengeance down upon it…

Wait. That last part morphed into a kinda scary yet cool Pulp Fiction/Victory Garden mashup. Never mind.

Back to getting rid of sod. As I noted above — I am perfectly capable of digging sod. But I hate it. If there’s one garden task I hate, it’s sodbusting. I’d rather spend my time planting something, harvesting something, or eating something from the garden. So this is how we get rid of sod around here — and more of it seems to disappear every year.

The Easiest Way to Remove Sod

The first thing you need is patience, grasshopper. While you can, with some work, use this lazy method and still plant right away, it’s really more of a pain than it’s worth. I’ll tell you how, but I’ll leave it to someone more motivated than I am to do it.

You’ll need a few things for this job:
**A spade or edger
**Lots of newspaper. More than you’ll think you need for your designated area. We’re going to lay it on thick.
**Lots of mulch. At least a four-inch layer (here’s how to figure out how much mulch you’ll need.)
**Hose

What to do:
*Determine the amount of sod you want to remove. You can lay out your edges with strings and sticks, or measure carefully if that’s your thing. I kind of tend to eye things and adjust my beds later, but whatever works for you is fine.

*Cut the grass you’re planning to remove as short as possible. Scalp it, if you can.

*Use your spade or edger to cut a clean line all the way around the designated area. You don’t need to dig here — we’re just marking the edge of the bed and cutting off any running grass roots into our soon-to-be garden bed.

*Start laying down your newspaper. THICK. I typically lay down entire sections at a time.

*Wet it down with water from the hose. This just keeps it from blowing away while you’re putting down your mulch.

*Mulch it. THICK. Three to four inches, remember?

That’s it. Wait a year, and there will be no grass in the area. You can pull back the mulch (the newspaper will have broken down by then) and go ahead and plant.

Easy, eh?

Now, if you want to plant right away, you impatient perfectionists, you can do all of the steps up to the newspaper one, above. Then, dig holes for your plants, and plant. Then add your newspaper, placing it as close to the crown of the plants as possible without actually touching. Wet down, add mulch (you’ll have to add it less thickly near the plants, especially if they’re small) and you’re good.

There you have it. I admire anyone who has the stamina to dig out sod by hand. Having done plenty of it myself, I appreciate the work that goes into it. Which is exactly why I don’t do it anymore I hope these tips help you out the next time you need to get rid of some sod.

About the photo: That, my dears, is my hell strip, complete with bright red fire hydrant. To make the bright red fire hydrant seem slightly less prominent, this bed will be planted with annuals next spring. That way if they get trampled by firemen or something, I won’t cry.

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You Know You’re a Cheap Gardener When…

As I was sanding the pre-printed plant name off of a plastic plant tag yesterday, I had a thought.

“Girl, you are cheap!”

There I was, pre-storm (and at the beginning of a tornado warning, which I was not aware of), getting ready to plant up a few more porch pots with basil seeds. And since I have several types, I wanted to make sure they were marked. And while normal people go to Lowes and pay the two dollars or whatever it is for a pack of plastic plant markers, there I was sanding the print off of one from last year.

Which led me to think about other ways I’m a penny pincher in the garden. How many of these sound familiar to you?

You Know You’re A Cheap Gardener When…

…you wait until October (and sometimes November) to buy perennials and shrubs because then they’re 60% off.

…the idea of buying a flat of annuals doesn’t even enter your mind. You can start them from seeds for about an eighth of the cost.

…you think those plastic seed propagating trays are cute, but you reuse yogurt containers, paper cups, egg cartons, and toilet paper rolls instead because if you’re going to spend money on something, it better be seeds!

…you say “I’m going shopping for patio furniture,” and you mean that it’s trash day and you’re checking to see if your neighbors threw out anything good.

…you save your own seeds and would like to be able to say it’s to protect genetic diversity. Really, it’s so you don’t have to buy them again next year. Or ever again.

…your neighbors throw out flower pots, hoses, shovels, rakes, or anything else that could possibly be used in the garden, and you show up almost before they can set it out on the curb.

…you hear that someone paid upwards of fifty bucks for pruners, and you practically have a cardiac arrest.

…you make friends with gardeners. Not because you like them necessarily, but because they have the plants.

…you rake your neighbor’s leaves, not to be neighborly, but so you can have them for your compost pile and to mulch your beds with.

…having an #uglygarden is a source of pride.

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Today’s Giveaway: Win a Fiskars Rain Barrel System!!

When I was brainstorming ideas for this giveaway, I was really trying to think of those items that I wish everyone had. As I looked around my yard, many things caught my eye, but the most obvious one was my Fiskars rain barrel. I love this thing. The only items I water in my garden are the vegetable beds and porch pots — the rest of my landscape is comprised of drought-tolerant perennials and shrubs. The lawn knows that it must fend for itself, because it doesn’t get any babying from me!

So I tried to think of who I knew at Fiskars. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone. But I do know a garden celebrity who works with them, so I went to Joe Lamp’l and said, “hey Joe — do ya think you can get me a rain barrel to give away?” and he contacted Fiskars, and the next thing I knew, I had a rain barrel system to give away to one of you!

So a humongous, gargantuan thank you to Joe Lamp’l for getting the ball rolling on this giveaway. (Watch his new show — it is awesome!) And another huge thank you to Melissa and everyone else over at Fiskars for working with me on this giveaway. I am so excited about this!

What will one lucky ITGO reader be winning? You’ll be winning one of Fiskars’ awesome rain barrel systems. These not only include a very generously sized, nice-looking rain barrel, but also a gutter diverter system that is very simple to hook up. With all of the storms the last couple of weeks, mine is full right now!

What do you have to do to win? Just leave a comment. You can tell me how much you want this rain barrel, or how awesome you think Joe and Fiskars are, or (what the heck) how awesome you think I am for chasing down garden celebs to get a rain barrel for you Either way, I need your comment by midnight Eastern, and the winner will be determined by a random number generator. Only residents of the contiguous 48 U.S. states, please. (And I’m kidding– you don’t really need to tell me how awesome I am. Joe and Fiskars are much more awesome than I am!)

Good luck!

UPDATE: Via random number generator, the winner is lucky number 35 — Kare from The Hazel Bloom! Congratulations, Kare! And thanks to everyone who commented! Kare, please get in touch with me via email (colleen at inthegardenonline.com) or on Twitter (c_vanderlinden) to claim your prize!

Huge thanks to the wonderful Joe Lamp’l for all of his help. Please check out his new show, Growing a Greener World, on PBS or online. You can also connect with GGWTV on Twitter and Facebook.

Many, many thanks to Fiskars for their generosity! Please check them out on the web, and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Today’s Giveaway: Annie’s Annuals

Back when a few of us were giving away compost tumblers, one of my Twitter pals said something along the lines of “why aren’t plants ever given away in these gardening giveaways?” Very true — what is gardening without all of the plants? And if it’s uncommon, insanely gorgeous plants you want, you can’t do better than Annie’s Annuals.

With everything from annual flowering plants, veggies and herbs, grasses, shrubs and succulents (and more!) Annie’s is one of those sites I can get happily lost on for a very long time (how many times has my productivity been ground to a halt because Elayne from Annie’s tweeted a link to an absolutely stunning plant on their website? Too many — once I’m on the site, I’m there for a while, dreaming.)

So I’m really excited that Annie’s has very generously donated a $50 gift certificate to one very lucky ITGO reader!! Huge thanks to Elayne from Annie’s for making this possible — I really appreciate it!

What do you need to do to win this fabulous prize? Visit the Annie’s Annuals website and tell me what you’d buy (just one item — you don’t need to give me your whole shopping list here ) The winner will be selected by random number tomorrow morning. Only residents of the contiguous 48 states are eligible, and I’ll need your comments by midnight. Good luck!!

UPDATE: We have a winner! Lucky #4 is Diane from The Garden of Live Flowers! Congrats to Diane, and thanks so much to everyone who commented!

Thanks again to Annie’s Annuals for their generosity. Be sure to visit them on the web and get happily lost for a while. You can also find Annie’s on Twitter and Facebook.

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