On Apr 15, 7:42 pm, "Leeper" wrote:
I spent nearly a decade ammending my soil with natural amendments, and it is
now very fertile.

In recent years though, the battle with weeds has taken all the fun out of
it, and weeds just love the soil, and grow exceedingly fast and vigorous.

It has gotten so bad, that last year, I skipped planting it.

However, I miss the fresh produce off the vine, and the store bought stuff
tastes like wet cardboard.

How do you guys deal with the weeds?

I'm concidering covering everything with plastic this year, in the hope the
heat will kill many of the weed seeds.

There are two organic methods I know of. The first is mulch. Wood
chips will not stop overwintering dandelions, but if you put down a
piece of cardboard, weigh it down with wood chips, and then plant
vegetables through holes in the cardboard, you will have zero weeds.
You can also use leaves that have matted down. Grass clippings work
too. If you have weed seeds only, any mulch will do.

The second method is chickens. Give them one week in the garden before
planting, and weeds, weed seeds, bugs, slugs, earthworms, and mice
will all be gone. If you let them in after you plant, the vegetables
will be gone too.