|
Mon, Mar 7, 11 at 16:34
| I am moving into an apartment that has access to a pretty decent sized garden. The dimensions of it would be about 15' by 25'. The major downside: it's been neglected for years and has been overrun by weeds. All growth above ground is brown and appears to be dead. I have no experience with weeds in this part of the country and so can't speculate about what they are. Some reach maybe four feet in height. I need to find a way to get rid of them; but, as I plan on growing vegetables, I need to avoid chemicals at all costs. What would you advise? I am perfectly happy to put spade, hoe and rake to good use, but I don't know how far down I'll need to dig to eliminate roots. |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| There is no need to dig out any of that organic matter that is ther now, just cover the area with newspaper, or cardboard, and cover that with some mulch material to hold it in place. What might then grow there will not because they will be deprived of access to sunlight that all plants need to grow. |
|
| If the above ground growth still has weed seeds in it, you can cut those off and dispose in the trash to avoid putting any more weed seed in the ground. Otherwise, a lawnmower will make trimming the above ground parts of the weeds down to size and mulch them for the soil. Assuming these weeds are annuals, their roots will be dead and should till into the soil fairly easily. |
|
| If there are no seeds being produced now there is no good reason to remove any above ground growth of these "weeds" and throw away the valuable nutrients those plants could contibute to your soil. In many forward thinking places putting yard waste inot the trash is prohibited anyway with the idea that people shoiuld recycle that waste and not put it into a landfill. The only yard waste that one should not recycle on site might be diseased plant material or something like Poison Ivy, Oak, or Sumac. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Weeds Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.