Please help WEEDS!!!!

[Arriga]

I have not been able to plant because of weather. However, there are weeds everywhere amongst second year strawberries! I'm guessing I will be able to plant in about 2 weeks. What can I do to rid the garden of the weeds Hand pull, till the in, or cover with cardboard? I don't know what to do.

[The Mad Hatter]

This year I tilled as soon as I could and as deep as I could. Then I put out my ferts and raked it all flat and neat.

Once a week or so had passed you could see the little buffers trying to come up. So every day or two I go out with the garden hoe and very gently his em up being very careful not to disturb onions and beans and the rest of the seeds.

I mulched with grass clipping nearly ten inches deep where my toms and peppers are going.

With the every day or every other day hoeing I have near perfectly seedless dirt. You just have to keep after them.

T.M.H.

[Gary350]

My grandmother had a fence around her strawberries patch with 3 geese in there. Geese will eat anything but not strawberry plants. The geese kept out all the weeds and grass.

[toskye]

I have blackberry bushes with strawberries planted all around the bases. last year it was ran-sacked with grass. I bought a very small (6oz) water bottle with a gentle mist, and I filled it with water and High Yield Killzall (a weedkiller that litterally kills everything). Then I went through and tediously pushed back each strawberry leaf and sprayed all the grass, dandilions, and weeds growing. I repeated 1 week later. Now: all weeds and grass are dead, and strawberries and blackberries are happy.

I did this with the raspberry patches too, however I will say that it is easiest to get the weeds & grass in very early spring (before the raspberry & black berries leaf out). Because the weed killer is absorbed through the leaves. Occationally I'd accidently spray a strawberry leaf, so I would quickly pluck off the leaf to save the plant.

[farmerlon]

I have blackberry bushes with strawberries planted all around the bases. last year it was ran-sacked with grass. I bought a very small (6oz) water bottle with a gentle mist, and I filled it with water and High Yield Killzall (a weedkiller that litterally kills everything). Then I went through and tediously pushed back each strawberry leaf and sprayed ....

Please read the labeling on that product carefully.

It appears that High Yield Killzall is glyphosate ... I don't think you're supposed to be spraying that anywhere near vegetable or fruit plants that are actively growing. After the Killzall has been sprayed, I believe they recommend a 7-day waiting period to even set out strawberry plants. Read the label to be sure.

If you want to have an Organic garden, I don't think glyphosate is allowed at all.

[bogydave]

Same for my strawberries. Some years I get after the weeds by hand. Not gonna use the herbicides like the commercial guys do.
I get quit a few if I don't weed them but get a great crop if weeded.
I use weeded time to relax & ponder the good things & solve the worlds problems. A no brainer job that just takes time & in the end is worth it.
Good luck. Weeds will be there next year too, so don't let it stress you. Gardening is fun, lots of work, but fun work.

Now get out there & get them weeds *** As my Mom would say LOL

PS: remember "It's fun work"

[soil]

baby chickens do a great job at cleaning up between the strawberry plants.

[gixxerific]

Hoe. pick than mulch. I like using grass it's free and breaks down fast and adds the garden.

If you till them in you could be just making things worse for you by sending the seed down for another come back this year or next or in 10 years.

[jal_ut]

I assume you want to keep the strawberries?

I just get a butcher knife and go weed the strawberry patch. My ground is such that you can't pull the weeds, but a knife will easily cut them below the crown and you can work around the strawberries. It takes a little effort but is worth it.