Better straw

Went out later in the day to finish the mulching and was pleasantly surprised to find all the other bales of straw that I used (one I did not use as it has the same green color of the thistle infested bale, and I did not need it) absolutely free of thistle. So I got the 11 asparagus beds I did not get in the morning all mulched and in some cases pulled out a lot of dandelion and clover. In another 3 to 4 weeks we out to start seeing spear.

I am relieved that most of the straw is clean and we will not be forced into buying not certified organic straw nor will have to use chemical herbicides to combat the weeds being brought in by seedy straw

It took me about 2 hours to weed and mulch 11 beds. It took me about an hour to mulch the first bed with thistle straw because I had to go over and over the mulch in the bed to get as much thistle as possible

Thistle in the Straw

Well color me pissed off. We went over to a nearby organic farm to buy 20 bales of straw yesterday morning and got a good price at $3 a bale (most of the conventionally raised straw around here goes for $5 a bale). Took the straw back home and unloaded it in the market garden so we could start mulching the perennial beds this morning.

I got a fairly early start and broke apart a bale and started putting it down on an asparagus bed. Immediately I noticed thistle down and entire heads of thistle seed. Not good. I shook out a second flake of straw and found more thistle, lots more. Again, not good. Now I had a big handful of the stuff so I ran to the store and got a bag and put the handful of seed into the bag and continued to distribute straw over the bed and grabbing as much thistle down as I could.

Soon the winds went from fairly calm to about 15mph-nice stiff breeze, great for sailing or kite flying but not good for grabbing thistle down. After getting close to 1/2 bale on about 2/3 of the bed I gave up because I noticed thousands of tiny seeds flying to the north west. So now I have distributed lots of thistle seed to the NW section of the garden and I have a bag with about 1/4 pound of thistle seed which I figure could nicely seed a couple of acres. I still have another 19 bales of straw to deal with and because I have to seek and remove as much thistle as I can it is taking about 5x longer to do this job. But if I don't attempt to remove the seed than we will have a much worse problem of asparagus beds rife with thistle and many many hours wasted trying to control it.

In the perennial beds we cannot do a lot of hoeing (much less trying to dig up the roots) and a healthy crop of thistle could out compete the asparagus at worst, and at best make harvesting miserable.

Now I am wondering if we should continue to buy certified organic straw if there is going to be this problem (this has happened before). I mean it kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting organic inputs if they cause bad weed infestations and the possibility of having to use an herbicide to keep the problem in check.

For now I am planning on using this infested straw and will have to make a plan of attack for the thistle that will be coming up in the beds. I have found you can get rid of the thistle if you cut it down just as it goes into flower but that will not happen until next summer (2010) and so we still have to deal with this years thorny growth.

Like I said I am pissed off and mighty frustrated

How to Punish Drug Users: Poison Them!

I found this on Tom Harper's blog Who Hijacked My Country (a blog I discovered using Blog Explosion) This is a left of center political blog that has a lot of good ideas and news (well if you are a lefty). this is about the most dangerous idea the US House of representatives has had yet. As you surely know by now I am not an herbicide user and the biological agent proposed in this article is almost too scary for words. They want to spread a mold based herbicide that will kill anything it touches (including amimals such as humans), does not leave the soil for decades, rendering the soil unusable for farming food crops and it spreads beyond the area where it was sprayed. I thought chemical herbicides were bad but now they have created a true monster and if recent history is any indicator the GOP in the US house of reps likely will seriously try and pass a bill through allowing the use of this dangerous material.

If you want to take action simply click on the "Click here" link in the article and it will take you to a site where you can contact your US Reps.

How to Punish Drug Users: Poison Them!
by Tom Harper
4-6-06

The House of Representatives has decided that the best way to prevent drug use is to poison the crops. That’ll teach those lowly drug users a lesson. And for good measure let's poison everyone else in the community as well.

The House wants to authorize research into an herbicide that’s so dangerous, some governments have stockpiled it as a weapon. Even John Walters — our gung ho Drug Czar — is against using this herbicide because of the hazards.

The herbicide is a toxic, mold-like fungus which kills crops. These fungi — called mycoherbicides — have been heavily researched for the past thirty years. Practically everyone has agreed that this is not an option for controlling coca leaves or opium poppies. That is, everyone except for our House of Nazis Representatives.

These herbicides attack neighboring crops and orchards as well as the “drug” crops that are being targeted. They cause severe symptoms in any people or animals that come in contact with them. They also contaminate the soil so that nothing else will grow there.

Our government is ready to conduct “field studies” in Columbia and Afghanistan. Some governments might interpret this kind of “field study” as an act of war.

The Senate hasn’t yet voted on this bill. If you think this is the sickest wackiest law you’ve ever heard of, please tell your senators. Click here to e-mail your senators and ask them to vote AGAINST this madness.