Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating melons, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and gourds.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old June 12, 2007   #1
PaulF
Tomatovillian™
 
PaulF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,276
Default melon growing experiment over

I wanted to grow more melons and fewer weeds by covering my melon patch with weed barrier fabric. My idea sounded good and may have worked if I had used a heavy duty barrier. I opted for the medium cost stuff.

After a couple of hundred sharp hooved deer walked all over and poked deer hoof holes in the fabric followed by a week of 30 to 60 mph winds, the fabric was shredded and useless. A ten by 50 foot section of heavier weed barrier is still intact and the weeds are not growing.

In the beginning there were suggestions to use straw as the weed barrier. That cost would a lot less and easier to apply. Straw will be spread over the uncovered area. By the way, all the melon plants are doing very well.
__________________
there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.
PaulF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 13, 2007   #2
organichris
Tomatovillian™
 
organichris's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 630
Default

My hippy cousin used to use old discarded carpet. He said it worked very well.
organichris is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 13, 2007   #3
Tormato
Tomatovillian™
 
Tormato's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MA
Posts: 4,958
Default

Organichris,

"My hippy cousin used to...".

I'm curious...is your cousin still a hippy? I haven't seen one of them, in a long, long time.

Gary
Tormato is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 13, 2007   #4
PaulF
Tomatovillian™
 
PaulF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,276
Default

Those who were still are except with short hair (or no hair), clean shaven...both men and women, no tie-dyed clothes, regular frames on the bifocals, money in the bank managed by establishment bankers, driving Toyota Camrys, taking care of the grandkids, keeping the lawn mowed and complaining about the daggone loud crap that is a poor excuse for music these days. Well, maybe they aren't hippies any more.

Who me? I sure don't remember ever being a hippie....most of the time. The older I get, the tamer I was.
__________________
there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.
PaulF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 17, 2007   #5
organichris
Tomatovillian™
 
organichris's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 630
Default

Tormato,

Yes, my second cousin is a bonified hippie. He just got his license revoked for not paying his taxes. I don't know what he's doing these days, but when I was a kid he made his "living" growing tomatoes and other goodies. He sold to local burger joints and whatnot. He's gotta be in his 60s now.
organichris is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 16, 2007   #6
maupin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Northern Thailand
Posts: 77
Default

I did just as you did, only I put a deer fence up around my entire garden. Melons are doing well. I covered the weed barrier with shredded wood chips.
maupin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 18, 2007   #7
Fert1
Tomatovillian™
 
Fert1's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Upstate SC, Zone 7
Posts: 543
Default

Bunnies are going after mine this year, ... and chipmunks. Anyone for rabbit stew?
__________________
Holly
Fert1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 21, 2007   #8
PaulF
Tomatovillian™
 
PaulF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,276
Default

Update: I have covered the ground with straw mulch to save what little moisture we have gotten and to keep the weeds down so I can find the ripe ones. It seems to be working. There are about 50 small (from pea size to football size) melons both watermelons and muskmelons. Several weeks until the first is ready.
__________________
there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.
PaulF is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:53 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★