Re: Best way to kill everything growing now for next years garden plot

[Warren]

After being inundated with weeds this year, mainly because I did not

> have sufficient time to allow garden to be tilled under and emerging > junk to get killed, I want to start to get rid of everything thats > there ahead of time and keep it that way. I had considered, mowing > everyting thats in there now, veggie plants etc that are finished, and > then spraying with a herbicide such as roundup or something strnger to > kill everything, and then perhaps doing it again 2 or so weeks later. > The mow it all close to the ground, till it under, and cover entire > garden plot with a heavy green tarp I have. Tarp is an old swimming > pool cover, very dense and heavy, and wilol not allow any light > traansmission. I live in Alabama, and I am thinking along with the > herbicides, using this tarp will cause the grasses and weeds to die > fro being overheated and smothered. I know I killed some large sectins > of my lawn when the cover was laying there for about 3 weeks, and its > just now starting to regrow. > > Any suggestions for a head start on getting this garden plot prepped.

Pretty much along the same lines, I would say pull out any woody growth first. Mow it once at the highest setting, and then mow it a second time at the lowest setting, making sure you don't stall-out the engine. (After that, it may be good time to get the blade sharpened or replaced.) Then smother it with some good compost -- at least 2" thick. Then cover it.

Your tarp will probably work fine if there is enough compost underneath it. You could also cover the compost with newspaper, and put the tarp over that to keep the newspaper from blowing away.

When the leaves fall, pull up the tarp, and put some shredded leaves on top of the newspaper (or bare compost if you didn't use the newspaper. Pull anything that is daring to grow at this time. When spring comes, till it. After tilling it, leave it sit for a few weeks for the leaves and newspaper to decompose more. Pull-up any weeds that dare to grow again.

When you do plant the area, use plenty of mulch to keep the weeds down. You might also consider putting newspaper over any large bare areas, or areas that may be difficult to reach before you cover it with mulch.

[jammer]

Drive around and find some old carpet. Lay it out how you want your garden.

[JNJ]

I was just about to reply when I saw Warren's response -- it was almost exactly what I was going to suggest as well. :) I just recently did the same with a large section of our front yard and intend to do it with the rest of the front yard in the next month or two (need to find a lot more mulch or take a second job -- it will require around 150 bags!). Got a couple of dandelions that managed to poke through the newspaper and mulch -- must have pulled some of it up when I fluffed the mulch.

One thing to comment on --> If you pull woody growth, mow it twice (2nd time at lowest setting), till it in, then cover it, there will be no need to use RoundUp or any other chemical -- the tarp will handle the job of killing anything else in the soil quite nicely (along with some help from the sun of course). You'll want to pull the tarp up before the end of Autumn though to give the soil time to start living again -- at that point you need to mulch it heavily, I'd recommend 4" or so, and putting newspaper down over top (before mulching) is an added bonus. Remember that the newspaper should be the print section only -- no glossies or ads -- and if your newspaper is not a major paper, it wouldn't hurt to call the company and make sure they're using soy based inks (nearly all are but it never hurts to be safe). A good tilling in the spring, maybe after a little soil amending with compost, and you'll be in business.

James

[Jim A]

Hello Roy If you are planning on using a weed killer, please spray it and let it kill the weeds before you cover everything with the carpet or tarp. Especially if you are going to use roundup, it needs to be taken all the way down to the roots to completely kill the plant. THere is also, 2-4-d commonly called Weedar, and atrozine, but they don't kill down to the roots... the plant will grow back.

Try the roundup. If yoiu want to kills something that is more of a soil sterilizer for a longer kill time, you can try pramitol liquid or pellets, or h-var xl, but these will keep everything from growing back for possibly months.

JIm in jacksonville