GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Chemical herbicides

zxcvbob · 15-03-2007, 06:35 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
Roundup is darned expensive! I want to kill off a bunch of bermuda
grass to make room for a garden this year, and I understand this is
the only way to kill the stuff.

Is there something else that will kill the grass cheaper, but not
pollute the soil so I can grow vegetables a few weeks (or months
perhaps) later?

by the way, I'm planning to spray the grass to kill it...then cover it
with black plastic. Wait a few weeks for it to get warm enough not
to kill my tomatos then plant them (transplants from local nursery
stock of 5" or so plants) by cutting X's in the plastic about 6" and
planting the tomatos, then mulching right next to the plant.

Do I pose any problems to my plants by doing the above method? Does
the black plastic pose any risk of getting too hot for my plants?

Thanks!

A $40 bottle of Roundup will last for years (decades.) It's not that
expensive unless you are *way* overusing it. I just started on my
second quart 2 years ago. I bought the first quart in the 1980's.

Don't cover the grass until it is dead -- or at least sick and yellow
from the Roundup.

If the ground is too cold for the tomatoes, the grass is probably not
actively growing yet and the Roundup will be less affective.

Can you get straw or pine needles to cover the whole garden? Then till
under the old mulch after the earthworms, fungi, and bacteria have had a
season to work on it. Leaves, straw, and horse manure would be perfect.
If you use plastic now, it will get in the way when you try to till it.

I've seen good reports about using red plastic mulch under tomatoes.

Bob