OMG, I would cry. I'm sorry.

That's nuts! I honestly don'tg know what to say. I'm torn between telling you to try and salvage the garden this year and just telling you to give up, solarize the soil, and try again next year. I don't know what I'd do if I were in your situation. And I thought my Cananda thistle problems were bad...

Rodney

If you can run a mower and maybe a tiller down the middle of those rows, you'll make a bunch of mulch and, ideally, get rid of a lot of tubers that will come back to haunt you next year. You'll also let the sunlight in. But yes, your veggies are fighting for nutrients.

i don't think solarizing will work. i had an area covered with 4 layers of cardboard & 4" of sawdust & it came right thru it.
there's also a big asparagus patch that I'd hate to lose.

first of all, nutsedge LOVES LOVES LOVES moisture so if you had a source going while away, it will explain why it took over your garden.

Go online and look up Sedgehammer. This stuff will absolute kill that nutsedge in 15 days and all you'll have to do is watch it die. Thing I don't know is whether it is safe on edibles. I'm sure you can find that. It really works, I've use it and my nutsedge problems have all but gone away.

It comes back some where we have a rainy spell but is small enough that I can just pull it. You need bigger guns for what you have, lol.

maybe i'll move

No, bossy. Sedgehammer must not br used anywhere near edibles. And it can contaminate the soil for as long as three years.

"maybe i'll move"

Oh rober, I'm sorry but that made me LOL.

Do you own the house? What about raised beds? I wanted to garden over a badly neglected lawn that had was mostly dandelions and other native weeds. I didn't want weeds in my beds, didn't want to have to mow and edge around the beds. I started by weed whacking the area down to dirt. Made the 4' X 8' beds out of 2X12's and filled them with soil. Around the beds we laid down weed barrier fabric then covered the whole area with rock. Grass is gone. Weeds are gone. It's been 6 years and none of it has come back.

Constant vigilance!

:) I agree with Dan, get in there with a tiller, then go throughand remove by hand as much as you can. Sure you will miss tubers and have to repeat the process a few times, but right now you have young plants inthere that have not made little nuts yet, and getting rid of them is important. Then put down your mulch with a nice light-blocking base like cardboard. Any sedges that come up through that are much easier to pull. If I can clear a whole 50' x 70' area of bermuda grass, I bet you can get a handle on that!

But weeding is not a once-and-done task even if you are waging chemical warfare. Once I started viewing weeding as an enjoyable part of gardening my whole level of satisfaction with the garden went up a notch. I also started tackling it with more mulch, because while I do enjoy weeding, there are only so many hours in a day. :)

what about asparagus? if i mow everything 1st can i till over asparagus? the crowns are 8"-10" deep. i have a 41" hydraulically powered tiller that hangs off of my case garden tractor so i can till weekly & maybe plant some buckwheat & alfalfa in august.

well I've started reclaiming my garden. after trying different techniques I'm finding that stabbing horizontally 1-2" below the roots loosens the plants enough to yank them. I'm starting at sunup & working til it gets too hot. I'm doing a 3 row swath at a time. at the end of the 1st pass I had a 3' tall x 4' round mound. I can't compost this mess so I'm going to let it dry & burn it. I think I might get some satisfaction from watching this crap burn

Good for you for not giving up on your garden. The plants I could see under there looked pretty darned good. Hopefully, the work will make them all taste that much better. ;-)

Way to go! I'm rooting for you! (Pun intended)

started the process of weeding in the asparagus patch 1st. this stuff is deeply entrenched. it's almost like it's one single organism. hand weeding is my only option around the asparagus but I'm writing off the rest of the garden. I'm potting some tomatoes & peppers. the rest I mowed & tilled & will work on the rest of the summer & fall to get this sedge under control. my thinking is that this will save me a lot of effort in years to come. this stuff is unbelievably tenacious. on the lower end of the garden I have a row of straw bales to prevent erosion. the sedge has traveled under it & up threw it. I've read that after repeated weeding the tubers ( nuts ) will eventually lose the ability to reproduce. so my plan is to till the garden & try solarization
for 2 weeks, till, solarize for 2 weeks, till.....repeating all season & a heavy planting of buckwheat & alfalfa in the fall for a green manure. i'll also use limited chemical warfare in hard to work areas. also-I'll never use leaf or ground tree mulch from local municipalities. I'm sure that that's where this crap came from. if anyone has any other techniques I'm open to suggestions.

http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fruits/veg/pubs/GFVGA%202007/documents/Johnson-11.pdf

If you're really giving up on the garden, chemicals might be the way to go. Compared to other methods, it gets to the root more effectively.

I agree chemicals is the best option. Do your research on those offered and consider wicking the chemical instead of spraying. Requires far less chemical and alows repeat applications without loading soil with chemicals. Burning everything removed sounds perfect. Maybe even dance around the fire if noone is watching.

I also have a source for fresh chicken poop. it might be hot enough to burn the sedge.