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Weed free gardening

Weed free gardening, every gardener's dream! Unfortunately, that's not how it works in real life, but here are some tips on how to keep your day of pulling weeds to a minimum.

The trick is to understand the weeds life cycle and interrupt it as often as possible. And as an organic gardener I don't use herbicides to do it. The only product I use if nothing else will work is Round-Up and I very carefully follow the directions and normally I apply it with an old paint brush to limit where it being applied and spread. Because it dissipates within 24 hours it is not toxic to humans or pets and is not a danger to beneficial insects nor the local water table. Like any other herbicide, it's critical to read and follow the directions, so you get the results you are looking for by using this product.

I use newspapers, cardboard and mulch. I know if I lay down several layers of wet newspaper (black and white only, please discard the colored advertisements), non-waxed wet cardboard I'm going to smother most weeds by depriving them of sunlight. I also use the lasagna method of layering newspaper or cardboard, veggie peelings, spent coffee grounds and any other natural material on the bed, I will draw in the earthworms in profusion. They love newspaper, cardboard and coffee grounds. For them it's a buffet. And where you have earthworms you have rich, aerated soil. The worms burrow around leaving their castings and making additional holes for air and water to penetrate deep into your soil, making it richer and healthier.

The richer you soil is in organic matter the easier it is to remove any weeds you may have missed, because the ground is soft and easy to work with. The weeds pull out much more easily.

This is not particularly difficult to understand or to make work for you. You are always going to have some weeds, especially some of the grasses, my personal enemy happens to be quack grass. But if you are persistent and keep at it, eventually the weed cannot get enough light, air or moisture to grow nor produce more weed seeds. You are always going to have some weeds, do to helpful visits from birds, and insects, but you can make your life much easier, just by a bit of planning, using materials that normally are almost free and sticking with it.

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