Hi All,

In my little garden, after the compost and all, the
local grasses have found nirvana. I am getting tired
of picking their spouts out and am loosing the battle.

Is there an organic method for killing grass, besides
manual labor?

Many thanks,
-T

Todd wrote:
Hi All,

In my little garden, after the compost and all, the
local grasses have found nirvana. I am getting tired
of picking their spouts out and am loosing the battle.

Is there an organic method for killing grass, besides
manual labor?

Many thanks,
-T


It all depends on your definition. To a chemist Glyphosate is an organic
compund but the vibes I get are that probably isn't what you mean. If you
mean living or once living material then coal tar is organic and that will
kill grass. Perhaps that is idealogically unsound.

Is a flame thrower organic? What about a steam wand? Neither of these
involve spraying toxic or synthetic substances. What could be more natural
than steam? It's just water after all.

A different approach is to forget about "organic" and to do what is least
harmful to people and the environment, and has the fewest unwanted
consequences in the given situation. This may lead you to some solutions
that are not "organic" but then even if it was "organic" that doesn't mean
harmless either.

One way is exclude what grass needs to grow; light, water, minerals or air.
Light is the easiest to deal with, ie apply mulch. This isn't perfect, some
grasses laugh at mulch but mulching will reduce the weeding effort required.
It has some unwanted consequences depending on your situation but maybe you
can deal with them. TANSTAAFL.

David

Todd wrote:
Hi All,

In my little garden, after the compost and all, the
local grasses have found nirvana. I am getting tired
of picking their spouts out and am loosing the battle.

Is there an organic method for killing grass, besides
manual labor?

smother it with layers of cardboard and then
put mulch on top of that. overlap the edges.
newsprint also works fine or even landscaping
fabric, old carpeting, etc.

the cardboard and newsprint or pretty much
anything organic will get broken down eventually
and new weeds/grasses might try to come up, but
if you pull them quickly enough they aren't too
difficult to remove.

as you say it is a little garden then that
makes it easier than keeping up with a much
larger space.

however, none of this is accomplished without
a little effort.


songbird

On 06/16/2012 09:33 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Todd wrote:
Hi All,

In my little garden, after the compost and all, the
local grasses have found nirvana. I am getting tired
of picking their spouts out and am loosing the battle.

Is there an organic method for killing grass, besides
manual labor?

Many thanks,
-T


It all depends on your definition. To a chemist Glyphosate is an
organic compund but the vibes I get are that probably isn't what you
mean. If you mean living or once living material then coal tar is
organic and that will kill grass. Perhaps that is idealogically unsound.

Is a flame thrower organic? What about a steam wand? Neither of these
involve spraying toxic or synthetic substances. What could be more
natural than steam? It's just water after all.

A different approach is to forget about "organic" and to do what is
least harmful to people and the environment, and has the fewest unwanted
consequences in the given situation. This may lead you to some
solutions that are not "organic" but then even if it was "organic" that
doesn't mean harmless either.

One way is exclude what grass needs to grow; light, water, minerals or
air. Light is the easiest to deal with, ie apply mulch. This isn't
perfect, some grasses laugh at mulch but mulching will reduce the
weeding effort required. It has some unwanted consequences depending on
your situation but maybe you can deal with them. TANSTAAFL.

David

Hi David,

I just do not want poisons in my vegi's. I am growing
cucumbers, zucchini, and purslane. Purslane presents
a problem with mulch as it like to spread out flat across the
ground. I am hoping eventually the purslane chokes out
and grass. But purslane retains soil moisture, which grass
likes too.

Had a friend that throws a bail of his horse's hay over
the bare parts, but that fights the purslane too.

Thank you for the tips,
-T