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Zootal[_5_] · 16-02-2010, 08:59 PM posted to rec.gardens

chen wrote in news:0e1ef767-1ece-4bf7-935d-
:

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.

4 inches of mulch is not enough for many weeds - they will poke right
through, especially if it is loose mulch. I've used ground cloth covered
with mulch with great success - that stops the weeds from coming through,
but they will sprout and grow in the mulch if you don't keep an eye on
it.

Chemicals do little good in the long run. The chemicals we use in our
garden are not even a drop in the bucket compared to what the farmer down
the street does to us, so I generally ignore the "planet killer"
accusations. Hypocrites need to focus on the big polluters in the farm
fields, not the little boys like you and me. Having said that, the only
chemicals I've found that worked well was roundup for spot control (not
near the garden), fungicide for the fruit trees, and a neem-Piperonyl
Butoxide mixture for aphids and flea beetles. Plus some good slug bait.
You won't find any chemicals for week control suitable for usage in the
garden.

Just go out every day and pull a few weeds. Weeds don't grow so fast that
you can't keep them in control in a small garden this way. Notice I said
every day, not once a month. If you don't have time to tend your garden
several times a week, you need to consider some other form of gardening
where you have greater control over what grows, including weeds.