Weed control

I'm intelligent but never claim to be a genius. The one thing I do have a talent for is applying knowledge. Now, many os my ideas are not original but have been thought of by other before me. Though they can be original for me, having not read the existing knowledge base.

Then there are times I encounter bad advice. So it was when first encountering the concept of adjusting soil pH. Many people do not understand the pH scale. It runs contrary to general thought. The lower the number on the scale, the higher the acidity. Not being a chemist, I read an article about using lime to make soil more acidic. I did exactly that. Turned out I made alkaline soil even more so. This was in the south garden area. Nothing really grew. Except certain weeds.

With all the movement of soil I've done and weeds being weeds, the pattern never really formed in my mind until today, while further treating another area to adjust the pH. That was when it hit me.

The areas where weeds have grown or spread have had very alkaline soil. They spread more in the area where I treated with lime than they had before. Even in the garden they were an issue in certain places much more than others. So I started spraying diluted vinegar in the areas where the most weeds grow more heavily, both in and beyond the garden. May do so once or twice more before spring in the most bare and weed infested spots.

I also began noticing that areas adjoining stucco walls tend to be bare or some plants struggle there. Then it made sense. Stucco and mortar are highly alkaline. The water runoff and dust would make the soil more alkaline. So if you have a stucco or even brick and mortar wall, you have some options. Plant nothing there and keep it bare. Only use plants which thrive in alkaline soil. Or adjust the pH to make it more acidic. Understand that you will have to do the latter repeatedly in the future if that's your choice.

I realized not long ago that many people rave on Epsom Salt for roses. Chemically, Epsom Salt is magnesium sulfate. There's no real proof roses need magnesium. However, they do thrive in slightly acidic soil. The sulphur acidifies the soil over time and in this case it is in a water soluble form. There are many edible plants which need or take up magnesium. Epsom Salt is a highly affordable source of both magnesium and sulphur. So it does have a definite place in the garden. For your body, especially men, magnesium is an extremely important nutrient necessary for muscle and bone health. It also tends to be lacking in many of our modern diets. Produce you buy in the stores have much lower levels of magnesium than they once did. It's not an ingredient in most fertilizers used for overworked soil on farms which have long ago exhausted the natural supply.

Okay. I still have things to do before dark.