"Brigitte J." writes:
My vegetable garden is being overrun by weeds. I'm not sure what to do
about this. The process of pulling the weeds is time consuming and
back-breaking.

Okay, you've got the idea about using straw, leaves, etc., as mulch to
suppress the weeds. But in places where you have bare dirt, instead of
waiting until the weeds have grown large and are taking over and need to
be pulled out one by one, you can on a hot day scratch the soil surface so
the weeds while still small have their roots exposed and soon dehydrate in
the sun and die. Don't water that area for a day or two afterwards to make
sure none revive.

You can carry out this with a long handled hoe, Dutch hoe, or a 3-prong
scuffler. Keep up this routine, and the weeds never get to the size of
needing to be painstakingly pulled out by hand. Save your back! Just
raking the soil to break it up will be sufficient to kill off most weeds
when they are small provided the weather is dry and sunny. Repeat as
necessary.

Good luck.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)