Weeds drain water, nutrients and sunlight away from vegetable plants in your garden, hampering their development and hindering your harvest. Fight them aggressively to ensure their success!
Herbicides can quickly kill grass, but can harm other plants and alter soil structure. To minimize any such effects, herbicides should only be applied once growth of grass has slowed significantly; as an alternative use light-blocking plastic or biodegradable materials like newspapers and cardboard to smother areas affected.
Solarization
Soil solarization uses the sun’s energy to use its warming rays against pathogens in your garden, including grass and other weeds, effectively killing grasses as well as pathogens such as verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, Phytophthora root rot, tomato canker, potato blight and damping-off. However, this method is less successful against perennial weeds like field bindweed or purple and yellow nutsedge that have established themselves.
Solarized areas should be carefully tilled into fine-textured surfaces free of clods and crop debris that could prevent the tarp from covering all the soil. Wetting down before applying a tarp helps promote uniform heating; an irrigation hose or soaker hose installed under plastic may provide additional moisture as needed.
Home improvement stores and hardware stores sell rolls of 1 to 4 mil thick painter’s plastic for use in gardening, while larger size agricultural films specifically intended for solarization can also be purchased. Thicker plastics don’t break down as easily in sunlight and should therefore be preferred when solarizing for extended periods. It should only be applied as one layer although additional layers may be beneficial in cold climates to increase heating effect.
Once plastic has been installed, it must be secured so it does not blow away. Covering it with mulch material like grass clippings, leaf mold or compost may help anchor it further while adding organic matter and speeding decomposition. Newspaper or cardboard work well as alternatives as they don’t increase soil temperatures as significantly while still eliminating light; just ensure black-and-white printed papers as colored inks contain heavy metals which may impede solar energy transmission.
Once all weeds have been eliminated, remove the plastic sheeting and plant vegetables directly into your garden bed. Be mindful not to mix solarized and untreated soil together, as doing so could reintroduce disease-causing organisms and weed seeds.
Wood Chips
Grass can deplete vegetable plants of essential nutrients, water, sunlight and shade while also being an attractive shelter for pests and diseases. Destroying grass in your garden is key to creating a healthier, productive and more sustainable landscape – there are various methods for doing this successfully such as wood chipping, mulching or layering to get rid of this menace!
Wood chips are an eco-friendly and organic way to help stop grass from invading your vegetable patch. You can purchase bags from home improvement stores or use a rake to create them yourself, then layer it as mulch on top of your soil to smother any grass growth and inhibit its further development. Plus, using mulch helps retain moisture levels in soil while stopping weeds from germinating!
When purchasing wood chips to use in your vegetable garden, select an untreated variety. Chemicals used as pesticides or herbicides could leach into the vegetables you grow, potentially harming their growth. A great source for non-treated wood chip is to ask local tree trimming services to donate some – they usually gladly accept your request and may even provide you with a list of gardeners in the neighborhood who have also benefitted.
Wood chip mulch offers several advantages to gardeners: over time it breaks down and provides nutrients back into the soil, similar to how trees decompose in forests and replenish their surrounding vegetation with essential minerals and vitamins. However, this process can take some time; to speed things along further add composted material, such as chicken manure composted directly to your wood chip mulch pile.
Avoid grass from overtaking your vegetable garden with layers of cardboard that have been saturated with water before laying on top of the ground. Make sure that this cardboard remains fully saturated by checking on it throughout the day and reweighing as necessary to make sure it doesn’t blow away or fall off! Be sure to reweigh as necessary to make sure it stays fully immersed!
Newspaper
Grass and weeds steal water, nutrients and sunlight from your vegetables and can threaten the health of your garden. Plus, they serve as food for more weeds and insects – so getting rid of them is crucial to having a productive vegetable garden. A thick layer of paper can be used to smother them without risk of their return – this method of weed control is cost-effective, easy and works effectively in most climates; plus its use as mulch adds organic matter and increases soil fertility!
Before beginning to lay down newspaper in your garden, first mow any area with grass using your lawnmower or hand-held weed eater. If the weeds contain rhizomes that extend below ground surface, dig them out completely rather than simply pulling up at surface level. After this step is complete, spread a layer of compost or mulch on top to maintain moist and nutrient rich soil and prevent further weed growth.
Newspaper (or cardboard) layers smother weeds by blocking light, inhibiting photosynthesis, and eventually killing them off. Furthermore, newspaper or cardboard also adds organic matter and improves soil texture; conserves moisture levels; helps regulate temperature; and enriches it with worm castings – not to mention that this method of weed control is inexpensive and can even be employed during summer temperatures when temperatures may reach extreme levels! It is an ideal weed-control option that’s both affordable and flexible!
Once your newspaper has been laid out, thoroughly soak them with water before applying a layer of your desired mulch on top. Mulch will help to hold down and prevent newspapers from blowing away during windy weather; keeping deep layers of paper and mulch wet will accelerate decomposition faster, helping you eliminate grass and weeds faster.
If you plan to use newspaper to control grass and weeds in a vegetable garden, only newspapers printed with black-and-white ink should be used – colored ink can contain heavy metals that could harm your veggies! However, this method may be safely employed on flower beds by using colored or glossy papers as long as there are no heavy metals present that may contaminate their roots.
Landscape Fabric
Weeds in vegetable gardens rob the plants of essential water, nutrients, and space – imperiling your harvest and your enjoyment of their benefits. Although weeds may be difficult to eradicate without appropriate tools, you can still take measures that will keep them away from your vegetables and flowerbeds.
One effective strategy to prevent weeds in new gardens is sheet mulching, or covering them with light-excluding plastic, newspaper or cardboard sheets. This technique, also known as sheet mulching, can be done in existing beds as well as vegetable gardens with overgrown weeds – increasing temperature while eliminating light for the weeds; ultimately leading them to die off and leaving your soil free and clear for planting your veggies once the weeds have died down.
Landscape fabric is a non-woven polyester or polypropylene product used as a barrier against grasses and weeds in garden areas and flower beds. Usually perforated to allow water and air movement through, solid landscape fabric may also be employed under rock mulches to keep rocks from sinking into the soil too quickly.
Landscape fabric is an effective solution to combating weeds in flower and vegetable gardens, but over time can become filled with grass roots that block water and oxygen from reaching the soil. Furthermore, landscape fabric may suffocate earthworms while hindering organic mulches from improving it further.
Before installing landscape fabric in your planting area and selecting an organic-friendly weed killer, it is essential that you understand its usage timeline and choose one with at least two weeks’ effectiveness – plus spray the lawn directly before adding fabric or mulch overtop of it for best results.
If you plan to use landscape fabric in your garden, layer it over a bed of shredded bark or wood chips to prevent weeds from growing through the fabric. Perforated fabric comes with pre-cut holes for planting vegetables; otherwise cut an X-shape incision in it and fold back its flaps so as to dig a hole of sufficient size to accommodate root balls before filling the remainder with soil.