Question for Hill Country TX gardeners

[GomoIsGardening]

Is it too early for me to solarize raised beds?

I've been able to get the majority of weeds out but I have some Johnson grass and something else with a tap root. I've not been able to get their entire roots out.

What I have in mind is take my weed burner to wilt the stuff that will not come out. Then lay black plastic and clear plastic over to kill the intruders.

I don't need the beds until late March/early April.

Another question is how do I get rid of fire ants? I have one raised bed that they just love.

All help is appreciated!

[farmerlon]

Is it too early for me to solarize raised beds?

I've been able to get the majority of weeds out but I have some Johnson grass and something else with a tap root. I've not been able to get their entire roots out.

I can't say for certain, because I have not tried it myself; but, I do NOT think solarization will heat the soil enough to kill the roots and rhizomes of Johnson grass (and most other perennial grasses).
For some more info, you might like to check out this webinar from the University of Tennessee..http://160.36.161.128/UTK/Viewer/?peid=da3d171913e04b4ea243b5fb855b3787

[Hortman]

Hey Gomo. Weeds are a fact of life, but fire ants are not.
It is really too early to solarize your raised beds. The air temperature
isn’t high enough and the length of day isn’t long enough to generate
the amount of heat necessary to do the job. What solarizing now will
do is aid in germinating all the weed seeds.
As far as fire ants are concerned, I won’t go into detail because there is
too much info to list. But here are some of links that have all the info
you need. Good luck and be careful.
http://ceamador.ucdavis.edu/files/942.pdf
http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-fire-ants.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fire-Ants

[applestar]

What do you plan to plant in these beds?
My ideas will depend on if you have definite plans.

[GomoIsGardening]

They are the vegetable beds, mainly my heirloom toms. Those beds are the easiest to protect if we get a late freeze.