Monday, January 04, 2010

More on Weeding & Cultivating the Grow Beds

More on Weeding & Cultivating the Grow Beds –

E & O weeding gets almost all weeds when they first emerge, and we do it two or three times if necessary, so the beds are clean. After this, because the plants are close together, they shade the ground completely, and even hardy weeds can't grow in complete shade. Therefore, later in the season when your plants are large, weeds are not a problem.

The aisles may also need weeding, but if they are treated the same as the beds, with weeds eliminated as soon as they emerge, very quickly the aisles will be clear also. And since no water (or food!) is applied to the aisles the weeds will grow slowly, if at all.

On the other hand, traditional gardening methods will plant farther apart, thus leaving ample sunlight for weeds to prosper. And the problem is made much worse if watering is done by sprinkling or flooding! Both methods water the aisles, and flood irrigating most often also deposits new weed seeds everywhere, to grow in the newly watered soil.

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