How to tackle weed garden..

angelbuny9

okay I have this 5ft by 4ft patch of nothing right up against the front of my house by my front door.  When we moved in there was one plant there that was blown out in a wind storm.  Now, almost 2 years later, I decided a couple months ago to tackle this patch of land to make it pretty.  It was completely smothered in every kind of weed known to man, I dug it aaalll up stirred it up and had a nice bed of dirt....and then I had no time to do anything else.  About a week later ALL of the weeds were back.  I dug them up and they all grew back, it is insane they are out of control!  I even put weed killer in the ground after pulling the weeds.  Not only was I pulling up the roots but I was DIGGING with a shovel to make sure I got under them all but they just keep coming back!  

 

So a while back I bought that black tarpish cloth stuff to lie down over the dirt (I don't know what it's called but you cut a hole out for the plants).  I haven't put it down yet because I think I need to handle this weed problem first.

 

Any suggestions on how to tame these weeds so I can lay that cloth stuff and plant some bushes and flowers.  The front of my house is an overgrown WEED garden!  It's hiddeous and I know nothing about all this stuff.  Someone had suggested pouring gasoline all over it and just waiting a whole year before trying to plant anything.  Help! 

kelklump

First - i would never put gasoline somewhere I plan to put a plant. Just sounds like a terrible idea. If you have purchased the cloth to put over the dirt, that should take the weeds away. Go ahead and plant (I wouldnt put anything in there in the heat of the summer unless you plan to water a lot) - and then mulch over the black tarp. It should control the weeds. You will have weeds still once in a while around the plant, but it should control the large weed growth.

another KT

Pouring gasoline on the ground is making a hazardous waste site.  You don't want to conatminate the soil or groundwater in that way.  You can kill weeds or unwanted plants with boiling water or commercial weed killer or commercial brush killer (for woody plants).  Then cover with anything that doesn't let light through.  Many people use layers of newspaper or landscape cloth (your black tarpish cloth) so that water will drain and no run off.  Then you can cover with mulch so that it looks nice.  Plant in the fall or the spring and then just keep up with the weeding.  You should only get a minor amount of weeds making it through the newspaper or cloth, you many also get a few weeds coming in from the surrounding areas and weeds will germinate from seeds that are deposited on top of the mulch.

stillundecided4

Those sound like great ideas.

Not to thread jack, but does anyone have any tips for a vegetable garden. It doesn't seem like that black stuff would work. I've had the same problem. I've weeded, and weeded, and weeded and everything just keeps growing back. My vegetables have become overrun by weeds.

nitaw

stillundecided4:

Those sound like great ideas.

Not to thread jack, but does anyone have any tips for a vegetable garden. It doesn't seem like that black stuff would work. I've had the same problem. I've weeded, and weeded, and weeded and everything just keeps growing back. My vegetables have become overrun by weeds.

Do you have an in-ground veggie garden? Most of the ladies here use raised bed gardens because there isn't the same weeding problem as with in-ground gardens.

another KT

You can do the same thing for the vegetable garden.  Some people don't want to put newspaper in the veggie garden unless the ink is soybased, which you can find out from the newspaper.  For the veggie garden this is a perfect opportunity to use a mulch that will break down over time and supplement the soil.  But many gardeners also use black plastic (just make sure the water gets underneath) or landscape fabric.  Some people also wouldn't use commercial weedkiller or brushkiller in the veggie garden because of potential contamination but that is really product specific.  Also if you go this route be careful not to get the killer on the veggie leaves because it will will the veggies.  To avoid this people often put it on my hand i.e. put it on with a latex or rubber glove.  Don't use the boiling water on the weeds right next to the veggies because it would also kill the veggies.  Also some gardeners don't really care that much about the weeds, as long as the veggies are getting the sun, water, and nutrients they need.

kelklump

I do both raised beds and in ground planting. For the seed plants that are in ground, I just pick weeds like crazy. For those that we plant as plants, we put down the cloth, cut a hole and plant the plant. it does help. I wasnt as good about it this year since we did so much seed planting, but its a good idea if you are concerned about weeds.

 

stillundecided4

I have an in-ground garden bed. I'll have to give some of these things a try.

angelbuny9

Okay awesome.  So should I go ahead and take all of the weeds out (again), lie down the landscape cloth and wait for fall to plant??  And is it okay to wait until fall to put the mulch down too? (sorry I'm so clueless but I really appreciate the help!)

another KT

If you are going to tackle it now, either dig out the weeds or kill them and then put something on top right away.  I wouldn't want to look at the landscape cloth so I would mulch right away also.  This will also add to weed prevention from underneath the cloth.  Plant in the fall.  You just pull the mulch away from the small area where the plant will be inserted and you will have to cut the landscape cloth to insert the plant into the ground.

angelbuny9

okay thank you soo much, one more question though, is there a type of mulch that doesn't attract termites?

kastle

angelbuny9:

okay thank you soo much, one more question though, is there a type of mulch that doesn't attract termites?

It's rare for mulch to attract termites.  NB has posted in the past some research on the subject so perhaps she'll chime in.

If you are *really* concerned with termites, just make sure the mulch is like 6" away from your foundation.  

~NB~

Mulch doesn't attract termites. They can't colonize wood pulp or shredded wood products; they tunnel and it's impossible to tunnel in wood chips. They can LIVE in mulch of any type, even stones or rubber mulch, but it is merely until they can tunnel into the actual wood of your house. So just forget about mulch as a termite variable. As Kastle said, keep stuff away from the foundation; ALL stuff mentioned in this thread, which could serve to provide termite passage (including landscape fabric).

As for weed control- I spend WAY too much time digging, sawing, pounding and chopping. Right now I am suffering nerve damage in both hands and severe "tennis" elbow because of it. It is far easier and faster to spray glyphosate, so that's what I do. The weeds die, the soil isn't poisoned, and I'm not reinjured. Will the weeds return? Always. Will glyphosate kill them again? Always. I would keep spraying new weed growth for the next few weeks. If you keep spraying, you'll eventually have fewer seeds germinating. THEN plant. Remember, weed seeds blow in from surrounding areas, so look beyound your little square.