On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:06:32 -0800 (PST), chen
wrote:

OK I have gotten a lot of responses, and no I am not trying to kill
the planet--I just want to grow some veggies!

I live in Missouri, and have a lot of crab grass, thistle, and poison
ivy, etc. The garden patch has been extremely difficult to control
the weeds in the past couple of years.

I have tried mulching, almost 4" in deep across the whole area--does
little if anything to stop weeds.
I have tried black plastic, which seems to stop or slow down the
weeds--but makes everything else that much harder to grow.
I have sprayed repeatedly with RoundUP and everything else they sell
at Lowe's, and actually the only one that worked at all was a no name
brand that did kill the weeds for up to 2 weeks. But they came back.
I have tried burning the whole area, looks ugly for a couple of
months---but weeds came back.
I have crawled around on my hnds and knees pulling all of them out and
removing the roots and all. Still they came back.


Gardening should not have to be this difficult. Com'on folks tell the
secret potion I need to fix things so I can have a good garden this
summer.


Spacing the plants closer will reduce some weeds. Planting in rows
makes it easier to hoe the entire 20x20 garden in less than 10
minutes. I may have to hoe every 4-5 weeks. My strawberries require
hand weeding, maybe 5 minutes for a 15-foot row. You may need to
identify the weeds to understand control measures. I have used a
propane torch on weeds gone out of control. Avoid herbicides, at
least in your food garden. Weeding is probably not one of those
favorite gardening tasks, but a well-kept garden requires it.