Preparing Soil for Veggie Garden
My house has a great size vegetable garden, that was here when we bought the house. I have not planted anything for about 2 years, and now it is overgrown with weeds. The sage and strawberries are still growing amongst all the weeds. I want to plant this year. What do I do about all of the weeds. I can't pull them out all by hand, as I have had 2 major surgeries this year already. How can I best get rid of the weeds and prepare the soil for planting? Thanks for your interest in my issue!!!!
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- Full Member
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- Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:45 pm
- Location: CT Shoreline
You could do it a few ways. You could kill the weeds with a chemical or cover them to smother them for the season. But both those options would not allow you to do much this season I would think.
I would treat it like sod/grass. Cut up the top layer with the weeds and pull it out and compost or toss it. Then till the leftover soil, toss in some manure, till, throw on a few bags of regular top soil, till again. I did this for my garden last year when I cut out the grass and planted corn. Yielded 8ft. stalks and had a Corn Fest with the family. This year I expanded the garden using the same methods so I am hopeful.
I would personally hack it down with a weedwhacker/brush cutter and then pull off the top layer. It will also go a long way to prevent them from coming back.
Post a pic of the garden in question.
I would treat it like sod/grass. Cut up the top layer with the weeds and pull it out and compost or toss it. Then till the leftover soil, toss in some manure, till, throw on a few bags of regular top soil, till again. I did this for my garden last year when I cut out the grass and planted corn. Yielded 8ft. stalks and had a Corn Fest with the family. This year I expanded the garden using the same methods so I am hopeful.
I would personally hack it down with a weedwhacker/brush cutter and then pull off the top layer. It will also go a long way to prevent them from coming back.
Post a pic of the garden in question.
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- Green Thumb
- Posts: 354
- Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 4:57 pm
- Location: central Kansas
Can you mow it down with a mower? If so, I would do that then smother it with lots of mulch! You can then dig through the mulch to plant your veggies! You may even lay down a layer of cardboard under the mulch to help smother the weeds. Yes, the garden won't be perfect the first year but the benefits next year would be awesome!