On 7/5/2008 10:55 AM, Eigenvector wrote:
On average, how much time would you say you devote per week pulling weeds
from the garden? I say per week, rather than per day because I used to pull
weeds on the farm - but I don't live on a farm anymore and I'm certainly not
going to devote 10 hours a day doing it.

My experiences pulling weeds in the fields made me completely apathetic
about them. However recently I've got it in my head that I might be able to
keep the garden clean without resorting to chemical warfare - but it just
doesn't seem to help. Dandilions, Catsear, Rye, and two others that I'm
actually gonna post an ID on here shortly are overrunning my garden even if
I do pull weeds for an hour a day.

How do you keep the weeds down? Pulling them up, covering them over with
mulch, weapons of mass destruction, or do you just not worry about it
anymore?

Side question:

What is the best method for controlling rye grass growing up inside a clump
of something like rosemary or lavender?


First of all, I never walk through my garden without pulling at least 1
or two weeks.

On days when I set aside time to work in my garden, I usually pick an
area that has not been weeded recently and clear it entirely of weeds.
By "weeds", I mean any plant that is not something I planted (except of
course for volunteers -- interesting weeds). I spend about 1-2 hours a
week weeding.

I actually pull some weeds; these are generally seedling ash trees (the
most common weed in my garden), wild grasses, goatsbeard, and pimpernel.
I use a paring knife to cut the roots of some weeds; these may be
spotted spurge and oxalis. I kneel on the padded underside of an
upside-down bench. Using a hoe, long-handled cultivator, or chemicals
is not really possible because many of my desirable plants are too close
together. Several of my beds have ground covers (cinquefoil or
persicaria). Today, they would be damaged by weeding methods that don't
involve close-hand work; eventually, they should grow thick enough to
limit weeds.

Contrary to some of the other replies, weeding is very important. The
pimpernel was crowding out my candytuft and primroses in back and the
persicaria in front. If I want those plants, I must eliminate their
competitors. Also, with water rationing likely in the near future where
I live, I need to reduce the loss of water from the soil caused by
growing weeds.

My Hill (always written with upper-case "M" and "H", see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_back.html#hill) is another issue.
I water it heavily but only once every two weeks. I cannot pull weeds
on My Hill except within the first 3-4 days after watering. Also, I can
only weed a small portion at a time; My Hill is just too steep for me to
do a thorough job all at once. While the weeds I remove from the flat
areas of my garden go in a green bin for the county's composting
program, the weeds I pull from My Hill I lay down as a mulch.
Currently, there are many tall annual grasses, some wild mustard, and
goatsbeard. Next year, I expect far fewer weeds on My Hill, a result of
the combination of (1) infrequent watering, (2) the mulch of old weeds,
and (3) the growth of ground cover (African daisies and English ivy)
that was planted just this past winter.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/