Overtaken by Weeds/Grass - KafkA Shack Garden Update (suggestions please!!)
Well, most of the plants are growing fine, if a little haphazard by orthodox gardening standards, but the grass and weeds have enjoyed sucking up the rather prolific rains we’ve been having here recently, and have emerged now en masse, in prolific fashion.
As you can see, the watermelon plants in the foreground are sprawling rather magnificently, but there is much green where no green was meant to be, so I am looking for suggestions from other organic gardeners.
Today I thought I’d try out a natural weed killer I mixed up quickly, consisting of vinegar, salt, and dish soap. Has anyone tried this before? Does anyone have any better ideas for weed control? I’m all ears. I’ll send a 2 SBD tip to the suggestion/idea which proves to be the most helpful!
Cheers!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
In my own garden, very prone to weeds and wild plants, I apply permaculture: I use everything that nature provides, often makeing a problem the solution.
One of the things I do to combat weeds is hard weeding work at the start but it decresased significanty with time, and then becomes ultra minimal (15 min for 150 m2). More weeds you have at the beginning, the best it is:
Take out of the ground all the plants you do not want, remove roots also. eventually cut them in smaller pieces for the large ones. Then just lay them on the ground to make a carpet. Surround your own plants of this 'green' trash. It will prevent other weeds to come out, shading the weedlings from the sun, and it will keep the humidity in the ground during heat waves.
I would avoid chemical means, even natural. Use physical ones. For example, I am not sure soap and vinegar would be a good thing for your soil on the long term... and it may diffuse to your own plants.
Gambate!
This is great advice, and exactly the type of route I’d like to take. Thank you very much!
Gambattemasu!
I got almost that bad a while back. Took the "crawling and picking" route, but my operation is much smaller than yours so it only took an hour or less.
Any chance you've got a place to pick up free mulch there? Fortunately, we do, so I mulch heavy and compost whatever peeks through or feed it to the animals.
I hadn’t considered this, either! Thanks, @papa-pepper!!
I use dried pine needles as mulch.
Ouch! I just put on a sprinkler, and have four @little-peppers iin swimwear pick them all to feed to the goats and sheep.... not sure what'll work for you though. Best wishes on this one!
Lol. This is a great idea, actually. Turn it into play. I will run it by the little KafkA and see if he’s game ;)
It can work wonders! Hopefully it'll help!
Use heavy layers of mulch next year. It will improve the soil and make weeding a heck of a lot easier.
@brockolopolis help a brotha out when you catch up with the baby! I think permaculture works in Japan too, right?
On it bro! Absolutely it will work there also!
Wife and i have utilized wood chips in the garden to keep down the weed population. It's not ultra effective to use mulch/wood chips, but it does make pulling them by the roots VERY easy.
I feel your pain..
Observe an organic herbicide, such as the avenger weed killer, to the goal vicinity. The avenger weed killer pays attention is made from natural cloth, inclusive of oranges and lemons.
Beyond clients have stated that a 3:1 dilution of the organic weed killer listen to works well for removing installed grass and weeds.
Solarization is the process of using the solar to kill undesirable grass and weed. the first-class time of year to try this is for the duration of the summertime. you may want to reduce the grass to a completelyBrief top then cowl the grassy place with clear plastic. After 3 months, the grass will eventually die because of the growth in soil temperature.
Boiling water is a temporary way of killing grass and weed. You could need to pour warm water a couple of instances before the grass dies out.
Including mulch is a splendid manner to turn an area into a fertile, nutrient-wealthy location. adding mulch also can get rid of grass and weed by using limiting get admission to daylight and air.
If the weeds haven't seeded, just use them as mulch as others have mentioned.
If the weeds have seeded, dig a deep hole, maybe a foot or more, and bury the seeds deep with organic matter that they will rot deep in the earth. It's carbon, and as long as the seed sprouts never make it to sunlight, they become carbon deep in the planting bed soil.
The other thing I do is identify the weeds to see which are edible, I leave most of the ones I want to have next year in the garden.
Purslane is the one I refuse to touch. Lambsquarter, wild mustards, shepards purse, sow thistle, dandy lions, sunflowers, queen anns lace,I let all those live alongside the rest of what I have going on. There is no need to plant lettuce anymore.
If I pluck the non-useful weeds for mulch and leave the others, I find there is only a fraction of the work to pluck ALL weeds. In some cases, only half the weeds have to be addressed.
Also, if you for some reason miss planting a garden for a season, there is still the good stuff growing out there. I have two beds that weren't planted this year brimming with purslane due to unseasonably good rains.
('no till cover crops' may be something useful to look at to choke out the unwanted)
(also watch what plant debris is introduced into the garden, depending on the source these could be loaded with weed seeds)
Hope that helps.