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Sat, Mar 15, 14 at 14:00
| this will be my first full season in my house and I am thinking about a vegetable garden in the back yard. I am not new to growing a garden, but starting a new one has always been a a lot of work to keep out weeds and grass. Last year I tilled up a small area and put in tomatoes in june. They did well albeit late it was still worth the effort. When I pulled the plants in fall, I covered the area (and a bit more) with a tarp to kill out grass and weeds. Today I picked up some onion sets and radish seed to get an early start. When I pulled back the tarp, I found lush green grass much greener than the rest of the yard! Not what I wanted to see so I covered it back up and decided to wait for the grass to die. I hate to spend hours weeding a garden. Any suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| You can put down cardboard between the rows with a mulch on top of the cardboard. Please don't spray the garden with a weed killer. We use old grass clippings as mulch. What few weeds we get pull very easily. |
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| Most tarps let through way too much light Cardboard seems to be the unanimous choice. You might also try black plastic or even clear. With clear you want to make sure the area is thoroughly watered, tuck it in real well, and do it in the middle of summer --- you lose a season, but it solarizes the soil and kills anything a foot down. Don't worry about the worms and microorganisms.. they'll come back. Also, to keep weeds down to a minimum, after planting your garden, mulch heavily. The few weeds that may come will be poorly anchored and can be pulled with a slight tug. kevin |
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