Saturday, December 19, 2009

Weeds

Q. I have sooo many weeds! I weeded the garden before I planted, (or so I thought) I am constantly weeding. Is that normal?? I just can't kill all of them. Round-up seems to be like fertilizer to them. I looked on past posts and someone recommended boiling water. I will have to try it. I also tried the mixture of vinegar, salt and dish soap; it didn't work either.

Q. Weeds are just about the most common problem that keep people from having great gardens.

"E & O" weeding is what I recommend strongly. Early and often, and by early I mean as soon as the seeds sprout you should take them out - either with the 2-way hoe (see Tools in the Store section of the website www.growfood.com) or with the garden rake.

Continue weeding as often as necessary. Jacob said many times that "1 years' weeds makes 7 years' seeds." That is the sad truth, and it means that unless you have been weeding your garden diligently for 7 years you probably still have weed seeds that will sprout when they are brought to the surface by the hoe, rake, shovel, or tiller.

Keep at it, and DON'T let Roundup or any other store-bought solution take the place of elbow-grease. Half the benefit of gardening is the fresh air and exercise we get taking care of it.

Don't be afraid to take your ridges down in the process of weeding. It only takes 2-3 MINUTES to pull down the ridges of a 30'-long soil-bed, and about 5 minutes to build them again with the rake. This simple process will eliminate the large majority of your weeds - especially if you do it a couple of times. And hoe in the aisles when necessary, also when the weeds are tiny.

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