I have a love hate relationship with sheep poo. Not sure what experiences others have had but I find it a fantastic manure for adding texture to poor soils, however I have also noticed the introduction of said sheep sorrel. Sheep Sorrel is a rather insignificant looking weed that the chooks and pigs love (however I would not feed too much of it to them!!). It it is very hard to remove due to the long underground rhizomes and has made my life difficult this season when trying to grow onions from seed as the sheep sorrel keep taking over the bed.
I am now considering reducing the use of sheep poo until I can get some control of this weed. I am hoping a winter of tic beans over the infested beds will help prevent germination during winter. Sheep sorrel likes acidic soil so liming beds is recommended. I did this in the onion bed and did not seem to control the weed a great deal. Tho my soils are naturally acidic (hence great berry growing area) so i may have had to add much more lime?
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| Sheep sorrel with a long rhizome. (They get longer than this!!) |
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| Sheep Sorrel close up |
Last growing season I was given some
chicory seed. I planted them direct and raised two plants. We added some of the leaves to salad during winter to add some flavour, but I left them to continue growing in their corner and have been impressed by the attractive 1.5m and higher flowering stalks, which seem to be covered in bees. I would highly recommend adding to your patch purely for the flowers.
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| chicory in flower |
I thought I would take a few pictures of some vegetables and their varieties for what is currently growing in my patch. Photos follow:
I had some patchy germination with the beans this year. Did not find any culprit in action but I suspect birds early on as some corn went missing also. Beans all seem to be taking of now.
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| flowering "Merida" Carrot - retained to collect seed of the strongest growers last winter |
Kohl Rabi is one of me preferred vegetables. It surprises me it is not more commonly eaten.
I always seem to grow too much lettuce for eating. I feed some to the pigs and chickens and sell some at the Cygnet market or to people we know.
Happy New Year to all. I look forward to blogging my experiences in 2013. Would love to hear other peoples tips and tricks also.
Dave
SHEEP SORREL! Thank you! I think you've just identified a plant I have all around my garden. The wretched thing happily grows through newspaper mulch and although my chooks have eaten it somewhat they much prefer other grasses. But thank you. Now I have a name. :)
ReplyDeleteNo worries. It is a real pain in the a#*% which I thought was worth blogging about. I find some sheep poo with cardboard (not really thick) laid on top and soaked and kept moist is handy to remove but I am still experimenting. I think a winter green manure crop of tic bean to reduce germination during late winter might be the goer but will see how that goes next winter/spring.
ReplyDeletetry leaving the poo in a clear plastic bag in the sun for a week or 2. should kill the seeds.
ReplyDeleteSheep Sorrel is part of an amazing cancer cure.... Essiac Tea... It has many health benefits. http://essiacfacts.com/the-ingredients-of-essiac-tea/
ReplyDelete