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Old March 30, 2021   #9
D.J. Wolf
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Illinois
Posts: 199
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Oh, sorry, I missed that it was organic. I would still go with a N fixing cover crop. This might even help control the Canada Thistle.

Since it's organic and I know that now, I went looking for control measures for Canada Thistle. One product I found is called Avenger Weed Killer, it's certified organic, and lists d-limonene (citrus oil) as the active ingredient. It is kind of price, Home Depot has it for $86 a gallon. But, using that at recommended rates of 1:6 for small plants and 1:4.5 for large plants it isn't too bad if it kills the thistle lol. Other recommendations I noticed were using vinegar and/or salt water on the cut stems to kill the roots.

I guess really there are 2 things you are trying to do here, rejuvenate your soil, and kill the Canada Thistle. As to rejuvenation, a year or two rest will help a lot with that. Better yet is having some organic material to work into the soil. One thing I might recommend is spreading a decent amount of straw on it as a mulch and letting it basically sit for the year as much as possible. This would allow the mulch to start to break down good, keep weeds controlled, and give you that organic material to work in. Then maybe the second year go with a cover crop like clover, and work it in as green manure to increase the nutrients as well.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas. Hopefully something I said in this wall of text gives you an idea or two that work for you!
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