# Need suggestions to kill weeds



## Ella Rollins (Aug 9, 2016)

Hello all,

I need some suggestions from you guys. I have a small garden in my backyard and i’ve been maintaining them for 2 years. I recently noticed weeds in my garden which are very hard to remove. I’ve dealt with them many times, but now they are growing stronger. While searching for a solution I came across an online article http://infinitygardens.ca/blog/organic-weed-killer/ which says about a organic weed killer. I just want to know whether this organic weed killer will be effective. I don’t want to take any risk with my garden. Do you guys know any other solution for this problem? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.. Thanks in advance.


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## mohick (Aug 9, 2016)

HOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Ash_403 (Aug 9, 2016)

Pull the ones you can. Knock down the ones you cannot. Use a hoe, sickle, or some sort of tool designed for this. Some people even use a weed burning torch setup. (I do not.) Dig the big weeds up if are able to, or want to.
Just try not to let the weeds go to seed. Especially the grasses.

My mother has tried and applied that organic weed killer recipe. It seemed to work okay, on some weeds.

Best of luck.


I had diligently dealt with most of the weeds in my garden for about three straight years. Very few would come up that last year. Then last summer I had more pressing things to deal with. Now this year crabgrass is a huge problem in the garden. All due to one neglected summer of letting a couple of dozen crabgrass go to seed.
I'm trying to stay on top of it this year. Then the next....


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 9, 2016)

Thank you Ash..I tried to dig some weeds, but its ruining my garden.. So shall I use the organic weed killer?? Did it affect the other plants in your garden??


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## chuckwood (Aug 10, 2016)

Every gardener has to struggle with weeds, they discourage a lot of people. I've got a very large garden and so I have a very large weed problem. I deal with mine by dumping a very thick layer of leaves all over much of my garden area. I wait until my plants are around 8 to 10 inches high to spread leaves, that way the plants are strong enough to take the impact of leaves flying off my pitchfork. I do this primarily with corn, okra, tomatoes, and potatoes. Once the layer of leaves are in place, I'm done with weeding and watering. The leaves prevent weed growth and keep moisture in the soil. I have an arrangement with the city's fall leaf pickup operations and they bring me dump truck loads of leaves in late November. It's win-win for both of us. The leaves sit in huge heaps and compost a bit before I spread them 5 months later. I use a four wheeler and a trailer that straddle the rows and I drive this setup along up and down my rows and use a pitchfork to spread them everywhere. It's a lot of work, but when I'm done, that's it until harvest. For the rest I use a small tiller that I can control well enough to get close to my plants without damaging them. I don't like hoeing - it's a chore that gets old pretty fast. If I didn't have unlimited amounts of free leaves available I'd be using spoiled hay as mulch instead. And I still use hay sometimes. I purchase bales of spoiled hay I find cheap on Craigslist and spread that around also as mulch. The mulch all makes my soil more rich and more productive after it sorta melts into my garden soil as the seasons pass. It's a lot of work, no way around it, but I'd rather mulch than hoe or run a tiller. The problem with weed killers is that you'll be adding chemicals into your garden soil that will affect the ph and general health of your soil. Anything that is bad for weeds will also be bad for your veggie plants. If you have a small garden and don't have much space, there are mini-tillers that can work well and get most of those weeds that are close to your plants.


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 10, 2016)

Thank you chuckwood. You've shared an useful information. So I should not use the weed killer right.. Mine is a small backyard garden. I'll try mini-tillers. Hope to get rid of the weeds.. Can I dump leaves over my garden during any season?? Is there any duration??


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## chuckwood (Aug 10, 2016)

Ella Rollins said:


> Thank you chuckwood. You've shared an useful information. So I should not use the weed killer right.. Mine is a small backyard garden. I'll try mini-tillers. Hope to get rid of the weeds.. Can I dump leaves over my garden during any season?? Is there any duration??



If it's the vinegar formula weed killer, that could make your soil too acid. You can add leaves any time you like except when they interfere with planting seeds. Any kind of organic mulch is good. Grass clippings, leaves, stuff from your compost pile, composted sawdust, spoiled hay, straw, etc. Horse stables often have mulch available when they clean all the horse manure, hay, and sawdust etc. out of stalls. Let the stable sweepings compost for a year or so and it can make good rich mulch. Sawdust is good but only after it's mostly rotten. Fresh sawdust is bad because it sucks up nitrogen out of the soil when it decomposes. Make the mulch layer thick enough and then most weeds won't have a chance to push through it. All that being said, a small tiller will probably be the quickest and easiest way to get rid of weeds. Mulch pays big dividends after some years go by and your soil gets rich and black, yielding maximum crops and maximum quality.


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 10, 2016)

Wow you've got a lot of information. I've dropped the plan of using vinegar. I'll dump leaves as soon as possible.. Will this make my garden dirty or will it set after some days


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## chuckwood (Aug 10, 2016)

Ella Rollins said:


> Wow you've got a lot of information. I've dropped the plan of using vinegar. I'll dump leaves as soon as possible.. Will this make my garden dirty or will it set after some days



Not sure what you mean by "dirty". Gardening, by definition - is one the dirtiest activities out there. My dad got me started years ago with using leaves as garden mulch. The neighbors had a huge front yard with loads of trees. Before the days of leaf blowers, they would hire neighborhood kids to rake 'em. But once the leaves were raked up into piles everywhere, dad would go over and save them some work and haul all the leaves away for his garden. We never had much time for watching tv, there was too much going on outside.


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## Backyard Lumberjack (Aug 10, 2016)

Ella Rollins said:


> Thank you Ash..*I tried to dig some weeds, but its ruining my garden*.. So shall I use the organic weed killer?? Did it affect the other plants in your garden??



weeds! sure do... do well... even when no water is avail! omg. in over 40 years of gardening, this has been the worst ever season for weeds. must be coming in on the air. blown in.

but, I have never heard of any garden being ruined by digging out weeds!  what kind of garden do you have? veg or? and some of your comments to the advice being provided here are rather interesting coming from 'a gardener'... _will it make my garden dirty?_ _seasons for leaves?_ _I'll dump leaves as soon as possible..etc. _these r not the sort of comments I would expect from a gardener...

as for weeds... in general... with a wetted soil... all weeds can be easily removed with the tool known as a Cape Cod Weeder. they come in both L and R hand versions, the R is easiest to source. relatively inexpensive starting at under $10. best tool ever! I keep mine cleaned after each use, sharp and lightly oiled. it does take motivation... and it also takes bending over. the tool can be easily reviewed and sourced thru any search engine.

weeds are a lot like a garden. take maintenance! nothing quite as pretty as a nice garden, weed free, flourishing and doing well. I have acquired some black plastic and plan to employ that this fall season.

>_will it make my garden dirty?_ _seasons for leaves?_ _I'll dump leaves as soon as possible _


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 10, 2016)

chuckwood said:


> Not sure what you mean by "dirty". Gardening, by definition - is one the dirtiest activities out there. My dad got me started years ago with using leaves as garden mulch. The neighbors had a huge front yard with loads of trees. Before the days of leaf blowers, they would hire neighborhood kids to rake 'em. But once the leaves were raked up into piles everywhere, dad would go over and save them some work and haul all the leaves away for his garden. We never had much time for watching tv, there was too much going on outside.


I meant mess. Will dumping leaves in garden create a mess? I'm asking this because I have kids and they used to play in the garden. It's hot over here and dumping leaves may create a shelter for snakes. So is it necessary to dump leaves all over the garden or shall I dump them for specified plants?


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 10, 2016)

Backyard Lumberjack said:


> weeds! sure do... do well... even when no water is avail! omg. in over 40 years of gardening, this has been the worst ever season for weeds. must be coming in on the air. blown in.
> 
> but, I have never heard of any garden being ruined by digging out weeds!  what kind of garden do you have? veg or? and some of your comments to the advice being provided here are rather interesting coming from 'a gardener'... _will it make my garden dirty?_ _seasons for leaves?_ _I'll dump leaves as soon as possible..etc. _these r not the sort of comments I would expect from a gardener...
> 
> ...


I'm trying to maintain them, but they are getting stronger .. It's hard to remove them. Once I tried to dig them and it spoiled the soil structure. I've heard that constant digging of soil is not good for both soil and plants. It will harden the soil which may lead to poor vegetation. I have a veggie garden. Thanks for your advice. As chuckwood said i'll dump leaves and once my garden is weed free i'll take extra time and care for the maintenance of my garden.


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 10, 2016)

One of my friend suggested me to use wet newspaper for killing weeds. Have anyone tried his??


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## chuckwood (Aug 11, 2016)

Ella Rollins said:


> I meant mess. Will dumping leaves in garden create a mess? I'm asking this because I have kids and they used to play in the garden. It's hot over here and dumping leaves may create a shelter for snakes. So is it necessary to dump leaves all over the garden or shall I dump them for specified plants?



Some of your questions sound strange, but perhaps you don't have familiarity with routines and situations that are normal to some of us rural roughnecks. A garden isn't a place for kids to play, it's a place for kids to do some disciplined work under adult supervision possibly. I don't concern myself with "messes" - piles of composting manure and kitchen refuse used by many gardeners are messy indeed. Gardening is done with only one goal in mind and that's to product a crop, however big or small. The process, depending on the size of your garden, may involve tractors, plows, noisy and oily tillers, lots of dirt and dust. It is by definition working with dirt and messy materials. It may involve animal pests that need killing so some messy bloodletting may also be part of it. Leaves don't shelter snakes, but snakes are harmless and I prefer their company to that of the mice that they eat. Snakes do love lumber piles, and I sometimes get them inside my home because of lumber piles close to my residence. It just makes things more interesting.


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## chuckwood (Aug 11, 2016)

Ella Rollins said:


> One of my friend suggested me to use wet newspaper for killing weeds. Have anyone tried his??



I've tried newspaper mulch with mixed results. The stuff gets dry and can blow away in the wind, causing problems. You'll need to weigh it down with something. It takes a while for the stuff to rot, and it doesn't add much to your soil. What's nice about leaves is they add a lot of trace minerals to your soil and make it more rich. Newspapers not so much.


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## Backyard Lumberjack (Aug 11, 2016)

what made me get off the bus couple posts back... is the question? why would someone join a site like AS, saws, firewood and such... and ask for gardening help? when the internet has no shortage of better sites and forums related to such a topic. I have my suspicions, but I am keeping them to myself...


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## Ella Rollins (Aug 11, 2016)

chuckwood said:


> I've tried newspaper mulch with mixed results. The stuff gets dry and can blow away in the wind, causing problems. You'll need to weigh it down with something. It takes a while for the stuff to rot, and it doesn't add much to your soil. What's nice about leaves is they add a lot of trace minerals to your soil and make it more rich. Newspapers not so much.


Thank you chuckwood. I've already started my work.. Seems to be good. I've dumped leaves in my garden. My kids helped me a lot in doing this. It's interesting and i'm excited to see the result


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