weed control

 

OK I have gotten a lot of responses,  and no I am not trying to kill
the planet--I just want to grow some veggies!

I live in Missouri, and have a lot of crab grass, thistle, and poison
ivy, etc.  The garden patch has been extremely difficult to control
the weeds in the past couple of years.

I have tried mulching, almost 4" in deep across the whole area--does
little if anything to stop weeds.
I have tried black plastic, which seems to stop or slow down the
weeds--but makes everything else that much harder to grow.
I have sprayed repeatedly with RoundUP and everything else they sell
at Lowe's, and actually the only one that worked at all was a no name
brand  that did kill the weeds for up to 2 weeks. But they came back.
I have tried burning the whole area, looks ugly for a couple of
months---but weeds came back.
I have crawled around on my hnds and knees pulling all of them out and
removing the roots and all.  Still they came back.


Gardening should not have to be this difficult.  Com'on folks tell the
secret potion I need to fix things so I can have a good garden this
summer.

 

wrote:


Spacing the plants closer will reduce some weeds.   Planting in rows
makes it easier to hoe the entire 20x20 garden in less than 10
minutes.  I may have to hoe every 4-5 weeks.   My strawberries require
hand weeding, maybe 5 minutes for a 15-foot row.  You may need to
identify the weeds to understand control measures.  I have used a
propane torch on weeds gone out of control.  Avoid herbicides, at
least in your food garden.  Weeding is probably not one of those
favorite gardening tasks, but a well-kept garden requires it.

 

wrote:


You should already know it is not a good idea to burn poison ivy or
poison oak.  For those you will need RoundUp, perhaps a second and
third application for established plants.

 

In article


 Get a Japanese gardening  knife and a hula hoe and a warren hoe.  Start
with a very small garden and expand when you have got the small the way
you want it.

<http://www.vsb.cape.com/~nature/greencenter/newalchemy.html>
<http://www.johnnyseeds.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=hoe>
<http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-568-collinear-hoes.aspx>

 Bill

 P.S. The one secret it to cultivate before the weeds emerge.

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

 

wrote:


JMO, but I'd say you need to be at peace with the weeds. What you
fight, you invite or some other such platitude.

Weeding is a constant in gardening. You don't do it once or twice and
that's it for the season. It's a daily/weekly/however often you want
to do it thing. It's getting on your hands and knees weeding,
visiting, tending - being aware of what is growing.

mulching is good - cover crops - I grew red clover amidst the tomatoes
one year to give the weeds less space to grow.