"None4U" wrote in message
et...
The book , by Ruth Stout states that by putting 8 inches of hay, or
leaves, or mulch on your garden. You dont have to do anything to it. My
problem is weeds. And I was almost going to cover my garden with black
covering this year and sterilize and let it kill all the weeds . Ive got
those marigold vines that overun everything. Do you think cover would
keep the weeds down and allow me to grow this year .


How long have you been using mulch to suppress weeds? The first year I did
it, I was pulling bindweed sprouts out every single day. (Bindweed, in case
you don't know, is an aggressive vining flower that develops an enormous
taproot and covers EVERYTHING if left uncontrolled.) I also had lots of
grass in my beds, strongly coming up through the cardboard and mulch.

Two years later, the bindweed is all but gone--I had to pull a sprout maybe
once a week last summer--and the grass is coming under control as well. I
think it just takes time. The first couple of years will be "more work"
gardens where weeds are concerned, but after a couple of years of mulch and
cover crops, the weeds don't need to be there, so they don't grow. You must
remember that weeds are nature's way of protecting the earth--any time earth
is exposed, such as with a freshly-tilled garden bed--whatever seeds lie in
the soil will pop up to cover the bare area. When you cover that area with
mulch and cover crops, you have done the work of protecting it, and will get
fewer weeds.
--S.