helpmegarden
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Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:15 am
Location: Alexandria, VA

Weeds! Weeds! Weeds! - new to veggie gardening - need help!!

Hello all!

Gosh do I need help!! My husband and I recently purchased a home and there is a lovely place for a veggie garden. Only one problem - it is over run by weeds! Many are as tall as I am (5'5"!!) :shock: Since I know that next season I do want to plant a veggie garden, I need to know how to kill all these weeds and their roots effectively without harming the soil so that next season I can start becoming a gardener. How do I do this?!

Any help is greatly appreciated! :D

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rootsy
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Location: Litchfield, Michigan

At that height I am sure they have seed heads... Which is not really ideal. Depending on what kind of weed it is (annual or perennial) will dictate your course of action.

If no seed heads yet, cut them off, below the lowest leaf node and get rid of it. If it is a perennial you need to get the root and all. Some grasses are the toughest to deal with.

If there are seed heads, you are likely to disturb and distribute seeds no matter what you do, just by disturbing the plant. Find some way to bag seed heads to contain seeds and then cut the plant.

You will likely have more weeds to deal with for years to come, it is inevitable but right now minimizing the addition of new seeds to the soil is the goal.

garden5
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Location: ohio

If your weeds are that tall and you don't plan are putting in a garden until next year, you have options.

You can mow them down short, and then rake up what was mowed down.

After that, the best bet is to disk off the top later of the ground...weeds and all and remove them.

Alternatively, you can lay clear plastic down over the weeds (after you mow them) and leave it there to "solarize" the soil. Once they are dead, you can till them and then solarize again if you wish.

TWC015
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:43 am
Location: Jefferson Co., Arkansas

How large is the area you are wanting to plant in? If it is not too large of an area, I would dig it up.

Since the weeds are so tall, you will probably want to use a weed-eater and pruning shears on the woody weeds. If there aren't too many woody weeds, you can use a lawn mower to make it shorter after using the weed eater.

After the weeds are down to a manageable height, I would then begin digging them up. The ground will probably be too dry and hard, so you will probably want to use a sprinkler or hose on the area the day before you dig. Use lots of water; it will be hard to over moisten the soil in the summer. Hopefully you don't have too many perennial or rhizome weeds as these will be difficult to eradicate. Be sure to get as many root pieces as you can. Some weeds will come back if you leave too much of their root. I just throw the weeds away from the garden, but you could probably begin making compost with them.

After you get all of the weeds out the first time, keep the soil moist and wait a week or so. You should see a few weeds coming back. Now you just keep getting out there and dig up these weeds that come back. I wouldn't pull them up because the root will still stay in the ground that way. You will probably still have some to deal with next year despite all your efforts to remove them.

I recommend starting this as soon as you can because you want to have enough time to remove most of these weeds during the growing season so you will know where they are. In the winter they will become dormant and they won't come back up until spring so you won't have an idea of how many weeds are left.

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soil
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chop it all down, wait for the perennials to show themselves, deal with appropriately, then throw a few inches of soil/compost on it. then cover with a good 4-8 inches of mulch. let sit all winter. plant in spring and DO NOT TILL again. enjoy your garden and minimize letting the few weeds that do grow from going to seed.

helpmegarden
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Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:15 am
Location: Alexandria, VA

Thanks for all your help everyone! I was able to get a the big ones out but there's a whole other sub weed forest down there! I wil til tomorrow....what do I do about a the extra roots? There are way too many to get up....

Also got to get a bit in the front yard...these weeds are ground layers for the most part since my husband got in there with the lawn mower. The roots are seriously thick, intertwined and deep. The worst of them all are against and under the brick of our home. Pan to plant some bushes/flowers but it took me two hours just the clear a small bit. Any advice on tools to make this job easie? I can barely move my hands!!

CharlieBear
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:19 pm
Location: Pacific NW

You could hand put the tall ones like I had to when we moved here. I know that isn't what you want to here. Then mow the short ones down, if you can identify something perenial like dandelion dig them out. Then lay out black plastic over the area, and leave it there until the first frost. Another option is lay newpaper down (black pages only) 10 thick, over lapped and then cover with a mulch that you would be willing to dig in or till in. I don't recommend tilling, it is very hard on soil structure, but some people do it just to get started. You could also lay paper and practice lasagna gardening and plant in the stuff next year, if the area isn't too big, or make rows 3' wide leaving 18" paths and lasagna garden, you can find info on net for that style. Permaculture people do it, but give it a different name. I prefer the later, as that is what we did, but you have to make your choice. At any rate get started asap and best wishes



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