Weeds--How do you control them?

[DrakeMaiden]

I have found that it isn't worth weeding unless the soil is moist. At least that is my excuse.

I typically use one of those long weeding tools (someone I know used to use a screwdriver in lieu of one). BUT, I did hear on a radio program about someone using a spading (?) fork when the soil is really moist to just lift grass/weeds up out of paths. I have tried this with my pitchfork and found it to work very well. But I'd only do this if the soil was really moist.

If you plant closely and weed regularly you will find your weed problems almost disappear . . . assuming a small enough garden space to keep under control for a few years.

Right now I just let 'em go. I'm still trying to eke out beds and I can't be bothered. Frankly there are weeds all over anyway, so it won't matter much anyway, until I can expand my garden's reaches.

I read on someone's blog that they find planting large veggies (like squash, I presume) help keeps new beds weed free. I have to say that I think it is true. Their plan was to turn all their new beds into large veggie patches. I may end up following suit.

 

[homesteadmom]

My mom thinks I am crazy because I water my weeds. But I do that so I can pull them easier to feed to my animals. So yes I can be seen walking aound with a hose spraying my weeds when it is dry & the ground is too hard to pull them out easily.

:watering

 

[beth1966]

My 'I-have-to-weed-the-garden' days are over! Chickens and their coop are in a fenced 20x30' area. Adjoining their area and accessible by a second gate is a second 20x30' garden area. The chickens had both halves until 2 days ago when we split it with a dividing fence and gate. Due to the chickens, there is not a weed in sight on either half. We'll soon be planting the garden side. I will let whatever weeds grow, grow. At the end of the growing season we'll open the adjoining gate and the chickens will have access to whatever plants and weeds are there until next Spring.

 

[Beekissed]

Mulching with old hay, straw or even grass clippings is the way I control weeds. Only had to pull/hoe one weed out of my garden last year and this was because my dog had displaced my mulch! It was a very large thistle.

This year I will be using a combination of grass clippings and green mulches like white and red clover, which serves a triple purpose...it preserves moisture, fixes nitrogen in the soil, and supplants/suppresses weed growth. It attracts bees to my garden. AND....after the garden is done, the pig and chickens get the benefit of eating it and then I will plow it under in the spring. Soooooo many benefits out of one little ground cover!

 

[me&thegals]

Here's my issue--What about those veggies that NEED to get weeded while they're still trying to come up--like beets, carrots and lettuce? I plant my stuff in 5-foot-wide beds, so until the veggies come up, the weeds have a heyday!

 

[Beekissed]

Maybe you could lay down some wet newspaper in a formation such as to just expose where you are going to plant, then plant your seeds in the linear gap(2 in.) provided between the newspaper?

This would suppress most of the weeds until you get your sprouts up, then you could mulch right on top of the paper and tuck the mulch right around those sprouts. You may still get a stray weed sprout here and there, right within your strip of exposed earth, but those would be easy to pull out.

 

[patandchickens]

me&thegals, have you tried presprouting your weeds before you plant? Put clear plastic on the plot for a coupla weeks beforehand, weed out everything that emerges once or twice during this process, but DO NOT DISTURB THE SOIL while weeding (i.e. careful hand-picking, not hoeing). Then plant with minimum disturbance. THere iwll be fewer weeds amongst the seedlings, this way. The soil will be a little warmer and your seeds sprout a little faster, too

Really the best solution is to save your 'cleanest' soil for those kinds of crops, though. You know, the soil that's been in cultivation the longest or most carefully, and has the least weeds waiting to pounce

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Oh, I know what you mean about picking the choice spots for those needy weedy crops. I thought I had that this year, but a long cool spring has allowed very little germination of my root veggies but was apparently just perfect for about 5,000,000 lamb's quarters!!! Yes, I know the LQs are delicious and nutritious, and I will eat them, but I wanted carrots and beets, darnit!

Ok--enough whining. I think I'm going to have to decimate the weeds, then do as you describe, Pat.

Bee--that's a great idea for the "plant" crops I need to grow. When I do root crops, though, I have 5-foot-wide swaths of them and so really need to weed by hand. I'll save your idea for future broccoli and cauliflower

 

[big brown horse]

I use the "Ruth Stout" system. My mother had her book. I think you can find an article on Mother Earth News.

Basically I keep a thick layer of mulch between my rows and all the way up to the plants themselves. I use old horse hay because I have horses. I've used leaves, shavings etc. as well, but most of my mulch is hay. Anything that we dont eat from the kitchen in the form of vegitation (NO MEAT) I take out to the garden and move the hay out of the way put the scraps next to the dirt and then cover it up again with the hay. I don't think you really have to bury it under the hay, but I do for aesthetic purposes.:tools

When I plant new seeds (today I planted lettuce seeds) I just moved the hay off the top of my row of dirt and planted. I inched the mulch back into place except for about 2 inches right on top of the new seeds. As soon as I see growth I move the mulch closer. When the sprouts are about 4 inches tall I move the mulch right up to the stems. As long as they can get to the sunshine they thrive!

I started with good clean dirt. But I dont think this matters much with the Ruth Stout system. I also stopped having to compost in a separate bin too. My garden IS the compost bin! I have had successful weed-free gardens every time I use this method. I don't even have to till my garden anymore.

This system is pretty simple. I swear by it. row I don't have to water nearly as much. When the hay etc decomposes I just add more.

Good Luck!! :coolsun

I am editing this to also report that my gardens have a higher yield since I started gardening this way.

 

[me&thegals]

Very cool, BBH! All those nutrients going right back to the plants.

Tonight, I got to use my very favorite weed-control method: Massive mulching with composted manure. My husband found an old compost pile in one of the barns on the farm and brought my 3 skid steer loads. It was just beautiful. Crumbly and dark brown. I mulched the asparagus, rhubarb and herbs with a thick layer of the beautiful stuff. Now, please, if it just is weed-seed free I will be in good shape with those things.