What is the best way to keep weeds out of your garden?
by
David
+4
Should you ever use weed killer? If so in early spring or late fall? I've tried different ways to stop weeds of overtaking my garden in the past, always just had to pull them, I'm disabled now and cannot do the physical work as before, but would still like to have a garden, thanks for any help. I appreciate it.
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no you cannot use chemicals in a garden.Hot boiling water only on the weeds, however that is a risk as well.smother them out with newspaper and cardboard,apply heavy landscape fabric and top with mulch
Have you tried smothering them? Newspaper, cardboard or landscape fabric. I have mulched all my beds so the few weeds that do pop up here and there are easy to pluck and only takes a few minutes a day. Here are some great links. See what you think.
http://www.finegardening.com/six-tips-effective-weed-control
https://www.livinghomegrown.com/weed-control-tips/
https://www.sunset.com/garden/earth-friendly/combatting-weeds-without-chemicals
David, the surest way may be to grow in raised beds, easier to reach, too.
Some build raised boxes to grow in.
Another idea is to make rows of straw bales and plant your seeds in those in a small amount of soil that is free of any other (weed) seeds, or compost you can buy. Heavy bags, though, so you'd need help setting this up.
Another strategy is to cover the area between planted rows using straw, newspaper and mulch, or even cut lumber that you store in a dry place over winter. This will not stop weeds within the growing row, though. There will still be some wedding, but not nearly so much.
I will pass on Hometalker Alicia W's recipe. 3 cups white vinegar, 3/4 cup table salt, 2 teaspoons of blue Dawn dish soap and 3 teaspoons of an arthritis rub that contains methyl salicylate (wintergreen oil) Or, I suppose you could just use wintergreen oil. Mix it all up and spray the weeds as they emerge. This will kill them, root and all, almost immediately. Keep it up, making sure you spray only the weeds, not your garden plants. Soon enough, the only weeds you'll have will be dead ones.
I find that mulching a garden deeply works. If you have serious weeds, you may need to pull them 1st, or you can cover using a plastic made to block the sun and keep weeds from growing. (I would cover with mulch afterwards for appearance sake.) Sometimes, weed killers can do more damage than good and I do not like using poisons in my gardens.
Grand kids got7 of them got all of them gloves and make a game out of it!!
If you are talking about a vegetable garden, I would definitely stay away from weed killers. It will probably greatly impact what and how things grow, as well as putting chemicals into the soil your food will grow in. We generally have a large and a small garden, as I can and dehydrate a lot of our food. Except for our rows of corn I lay that black weed barrier down, and cut an ex where the plants will be planted. Once the plants are in I lay straw on top of the barrier, and cover everything except where the plants are. That iwll keep a majority of weeds down, as well as help keep the ground moist during the hot weather. You'll still need to pull little weeds around the base of the plants, but it will be much more manageable.