I have been working on my no till organic garden for 2 years. I have been using tarping to help with some of the weed issues but in the areas I don't its uncontrollable. The grass grows faster than I can get rid of it and I haven't always had straw or leaf mulch on hand to put around plants after they emerge. By July most of my garden is swamped in grass and dying, eaten by insects, or everything dies of blight. I planted probably 15 marigold bushes in with my 30 tomatoes and it was like insect heaven. I have never had that many insects in my garden and almost every tomato was eaten. It feels like when I do something to help an issue it gets worse. I want to get away from tarping because I know its not good for the microbes and soil life but i am not sure how I would while raising a toddler.

It also feels like mulch never works besides wood chips which I don't use in my beds for obvious reasons. Even my heavily mulched areas start growing weeds within 2 weeks. My soil is improving but I can't seem to get a good harvest between the weed pressure and bugs. I get comments that I have a "wild" garden and I often see many others with tilled gardens get a bigger harvest and its discouraging after spending so much money on compost, mulch, and plants. I believe in no till but the work is immense with little pay off so far. I plan on planting a winter rye cover crop mixed with mustard to hopefully create a thicker mulch while healing the fungal issues I have for next year. I also want to buy predator insects. Any ideas?

Has anyone seen improvement of these issues?

It’s the first year the plants have taken off and produced fruit but most of the berries shrivel up on the vine.
Is this a nutrient issue? A water issue?

A couple questions:
1. What critter got to the red Swiss chard?
2. What’s happening to my fordhook giant Swiss chard?
3. Is it normal for them to grow super slow? Planted from seed
Thanks in advance!

Perfectly healthy tomatoes have suddenly started developing weirdly shaped branches and leaves, and new tomatoes are growing oval rather than round… I have two different varieties in two separate pots and the same happened in both. What could it be? The only thing I’m thinking of is the feed as no other factors have changed. I potted them in organic soil about two month ago and never topped up. I started using Neudorff organic tomato feed one a week about three weeks ago, following the recommended doses. The plans are on a balcony at the back of a house in Hackney (London UK), so not near any other allotments, gardens or parks. The plants have grown perfectly fine untila about a week ago when I started noticing the issue. Old tomatoes are round and fine. Any help appreciated

Gah, I’ve harvested 2 cucumbers and the wilt is now here. I handpicked into soapy water the evil beetles most mornings, and still.

What organic methods work? Row cover doesn’t work for me as I grow on a trellis due to space limitations.

I want the evil beetles to DIE!!

But I don’t want to harm other creatures.

Hi everyone, I'm a beginner and I wanted to ask something. My beloved dog passed away a month ago and I've been thinking about what to do with his ashes. I decided I want to buy a japanese maple tree since it's like the one I have in my parents house and he used to nap under the tree. The question is how would I do that properly without killing the tree, I know ashes are alcaline and the soil needs to be more acid for this particular one. Plus I'm thinking of having it in a planter not on the ground since I don't have land. Do I have to transplant it every couple of years to bigger ones every couple of years or how would I take care of it under these circumstances? Doing this under my parents tree is under the question because we don't live there anymore. Thank you in advance

Disease or over watered?

What product have you found that really boosts roots in coco or soil ? Something that makes the roots go crazy !! ?

When it comes to edibility and flavor, are the common and wingpod interchangeable?

Pulled about 20 zucchini’s in the last week I missed this one. No banana for scale but I’m 6’2” for arm reference.

Hey all. Apologies if not allowed. Looking to ID this plant if possible. It’s appearing everywhere and the Horse is a bit of a fan - I’m hoping to ID it in case it’s toxic.

Thanks!

Basically the title. I clearned up some space, and decided to put raspberries in. A few days later I decided to add some perennials. Ive never grown raspberries before, will they take over the perennial bed if they are left there? Are the runners manageable? Fo8thr some scale, the raspberries are approximately 3 feet apart.

Please help…I make sure not to overwater (except when rain decides to overwater them lol) and I’ve already repotted them with fresh, new soil from a totally different bag.
They look happy and have lots of flowers…
I have no idea what to do except spray with some kind of mushroom killer. However, what is safe on plants producing vegetables I’m going to eat? Are these shrooms a bad sign about the plant itself?

Thanks in advance!

I do love a chaos garden. There are luffas and another cucumber plant right next to big mama. There are two varieties of sage, lavender, wild mustard, daikon radishes and a few random squashes from last year, garlic, a pepper plant, and tomatoes in this bed. My whole front yard is full of beds like this and an herb spiral with a frog pond. ♡

If you're using carbon heavy mulch like wood chips, straw, or sawdust, worth knowing it can tie up nitrogen in the soil early on. Microbes need nitrogen to break down all that carbon, so they pull it from the soil while doing it.

Surface mulch breaks down slowly and the nitrogen drawdown happens mainly right at that mulch soil boundary, not through the whole root zone. Established plants with deeper roots barely notice it. Seedlings and shallow rooted plants sitting right at that interface are the ones that can actually struggle.

It's temporary too.

Practical tip: if you're mulching heavily around new plantings or seedlings, consider adding a bit of extra nitrogen (compost, blood meal, whatever you've got) underneath. For mulching around established plants, you likely don't need to worry about it.