What’s going on in your garden (2026)?

[SoCalZone10]

It can be messy if you have a small yard.

 

[badjak]

It can be messy if you have a small yard.

It's messy if you have a big yard as well.
As you got more grass & weeds to cut/mow

 

[Barriehie]

It rots pretty quick here given the humidity.

 

[SoCalZone10]

Not here, it’s not humid here, it’s dry. But I do use some of my palm roots as mulch, but not roses, they are prickly.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I've got a huge problem in that the "cuttings" are mostly weeds. Weeds grow remarkably quickly in a tropical climate, so the only solutions are (a) burn them or (b) get rid of them. I have to get rid of them.
What I'm thinking of doing this year is to (selectively) eliminate the weeds; easier said than done. Selective herbicides are almost impossible to obtain over here, and importing a bag or two from the US would probably have me arrested and thrown into jail for importing possible bomb-making chemicals.
I'm probably going to have to use glyphosate; wait a few months, then replant the areas with something friendly, like fruit trees or shrubs.

 

[badjak]

I hear you....
We take out the real nasties by hand before cutting

 

[SoCalZone10]

I was very impressed with the Cubans how they have to garden without a lot of pesticides because they can’t afford it.
Here in my town, I’m always afraid of my neighbors who are too willing to whip out Roundup for killing weeds.
I’m right across them and I can tell they affect my flowers and fruit due to fasciation.

 

[Barriehie]

Around here, the old timers, if they see a bug in the garden they're all to quick to dump pounds of Sevin dust on everything. I'll go as far as neem oil and/or insecticidal soap and so far that works.

 

[SoCalZone10]

I use vinegar, baking soda, and maybe a bit of dawn soap at most.
But my method of gardening organically is to just remove the problem. But one year I was too busy and saw a lot of aphids on one plant, within a few weeks, the aphids were all consumed by lady bugs, so they are food for nature.
Plus I have fence lizards, they eat the bugs, and also ants too. Nature pesticide.

 

[Z-Cook]

Nobody ever hear of composting ?

 

[SoCalZone10]

Nobody ever hear of composting ?

I do compost, but my yard is not big, I have captive worms in 2 containers. They eat my vegetable peels and such.

 

[Barriehie]

Nobody ever hear of composting ?

My composting is a never ending endeavor. Here's my starter pile right by the garden area.

These next 3 piles, this weekend, will get sledded down to the main pile.

When it starts raining I'll start turning and mixing. Around a month before last frost I'll take off the boards and spread the mulch around and then till it all in. It'll rain before I plant and all good.

 

[Barriehie]

Somewhere in August I start cutting grass/weeds in the fields and mulching that into rows with the mower. Those get turned when it rains and when I till everything in the fall that gets all mixed in.