It is another spring and another garden has been planted. Now I don't claim to be a master gardener. Mediocre is more like it. But this year I have really put in a lot of work trying to make my garden more weed free and use less water.

I started with the flower bed in the front. I have struggled with this area. The way it is positioned, it catches all the south wind and also gets a lot of caliche and sand blown into it. For those who don't know, caliche is a type of sedimentary rock that is comprised of calcium carbonate is used around here for roads and parking lots. It is NOT good for growing things.

So on this flower bed this year I cleaned it out, layed down a layer of newspaper, and then put cottonseed hulls on top of that.

This first picture is of when I first started. 

 Now I have newspaper across the whole flower bed and starting to put down the cottonseed hulls.










And here is the finished product.

I am watering a lot less. My flowers are doing better other than suffering from the hot wind we have had. This did so well I got motivated and did the same in my garden.

This is part of my green beans. I dug out a trench and put down the newspaper and put dirt on top to keep it from blowing.

Then I put the cottonseed hulls on top of the dirt. I have done several rows of my garden this way and still have a couple more to go.

This year I also planted three rows of a vegetable, then left an area for a walkway. On top of the walkway I put down landscape fabric to block weeds.

This year I am really working at keeping the weeds down and trying to be more efficient with my watering.

We are having days that are 100 degrees or more and hot winds with that. Our farmers are struggling. I am trying to do what I can to be more efficient with my watering, but this weather is making it extremely difficult.

Well, that is part of my garden this year. Hope you enjoyed!