Cool, Wet Weather - Good For Growing Grass And Weeds

After our unbelievably warm temperatures on and off in the months of February and March, we've fallen back into a slightly cooler than usual month of April.

We've also been getting frequent rains which are much appreciated for our area that has had extremely dry conditions because of lack of snow this winter.

But blast and dang, the cool, wet weather has put the kibosh on getting anything started out in the garden under cold frames because the ground hasn't dried out enough. Plus, it's so cold any little seed plunged into the cold, damp earth would probably just curl its toes up and rot.

However, the grass is growing like crazy. Papa Pea weed whipped the high grass that had grown up around all the raised beds yesterday.

I'd like him to do the same around the pumpkin patch and field garden, too, as soon as he has a chance. Although you can't see it from the above picture shot down one side of the field garden, the grass (in reality, mostly quack grass, a weed that thrives here) steadily encroaching on the plowed soil is about 6" higher than the grass in (what we jokingly refer to as) the lawn. Why is the grass right at the edge of the tilled up area so much more vigorous? Probably because of the compost and other organic additives put into the garden proper. The grass smells this enriched soil and makes a beeline for it. This is what I want hubby to take down with the weed whip and then I'll till the boundaries of the field garden and pumpkin patch as my first attempt of the season to keep the quack grass from creeping into and taking over my planting area.

I'm planning on getting outside today to take out the few weeds that have grown up in the raised beds. (I just came back in after taking the photos for this post and I want to report it is COLD out there! Forty-four degrees on the thermometer and the sun we had earlier has gone AWOL.)

Although I do a good job of keeping on top of the weeds in the raised beds, the biggest (and constant) problem is this quack grass that comes from the paths between the raised beds, sneaks up under the wood framing and pops up (surprise!) within the bed itself.

This stuff has roots that go on forever (parallel to the surface but deep down) and if you leave even a portion of root in the soil, the plant springs back to life seemingly stronger than ever.

What we need to do is replace the paths between all 27 beds, including the rectangular perimeter around them, with something other than grass. We're kicking around several methods/materials, but whatever we settle on, it will be one big, extensive job and most likely won't get totally finished in one season.

Just another little task to add to the To Do list, but one that will be well worth it once it's done. In the meantime, I need to get out there and do what damage I can to the quack grass this weekend because it looks like it will continue to be wet and cool through at least Wednesday of this coming week. Perfect weather for (quack) grass growing!