o/t grass weeds took over my garden

This spring the area I used for my garden was almost totally free of grass and weeds. What there was I pulled or dug out. Put in some store bought manure and roto tilled it in good.Planted my crops and then had to battle the deer and their free meals. put up a fence and then ended up putting my hip out, sciatic nerve I think. Anyhow my garden in about a weeks time became over grown with grass and some weeds. Haven't been able to get to it due to my hip and back. Besides so thick if I try to remove them I'll kill the crops that have survived. Any ideas what I can do to prevent this next year. I'm against using chemicals if they can be avoided.
Thanks,
Bill

You can buy material that has holes to let moisture in lay it over the garden then poke a small hole where the seed is planted or where plant is started. Rain will soak in through the small holes but weeds won't come through it. I think you can get it at Walmart or Menards.

The store bought manure was probably the culprit with all the weed seeds. Manure is not composted.

You can use Weed Block and I have used grass clippings around my tomato plants that are in cages made from heavy reinforcement wire. Hal
PS: I also used old wet straw.

Sorry to hear of the ailment with the hip, those of us who do this work will all face a time where you can't do the physical work, its frustrating, especially with a garden, you are not alone LOL !


I would suggest hay, straw or wet or dry grass clippings, ( latter from a lawn NOT sprayed with chemicals )

I like hay, even more so, 2nd cut where immature and seedless plants exist, a nice thick layer of it, kept moist or wet. The only thing I am unsure about is powder mold, for years I have gotten it on my cucumbers and it wipes em out. I skipped the mulch this year, let the weeds grow to about 6" and then hand weeded them out, and used them as a mulch. This worked well so far, small patch anyways, right off one end of my home, fenced in with cyclone fence removed from the pool I demo'd years ago, across the lane.

I will say that anytime I used a thick layer of hay, grass clippings, I do not have any weeds, it just snuffs them out before they get a chance. I don't get any weeds from the mulch. I like to let my lawn grow a bit at times, in dry weather and literally make hay out of it, then use that as a mulch, I prefer it dry as fresh cut grass, though loaded with nitrogen, (some plants you don't want to over do nitrogen as you just get growth and not many flowers)it becomes a slippery mush, so I'd rather make hay, collect and then apply. This molds up and like I mention, I am not sure if it was the source of the powder mold, very well may not be, at this point I do not know yet. I discovered powder mold on nearby Peonies, kind of odd, so I cut those off and removed, too close to my garden, it can easily spread, humid nights, rain, large shaded leaves like vine plants, perfect environment for it. On the other side of the house along the driveway by the garage theres a thick bunch of phlox that I don't recall how it even got started but I have looked after it for years, its enlarged over time, makes the area smell so nice, it always gets powder mold, on the lower leaves, this year it did not ! So I may be getting it from these sources.

Mulch like mentioned above or a good compost, one that has been aerobically broken down, temperature high enough to kill any seed, a thick layer of that will work right after you transplant, and soon after seed emergence, lay it in there thick, it will keep the soil cooler and moist, as well as being a great soil amendment when it gets tilled in.

My corn patch, I cultivated by hand, I had bought a troy bilt junior for the purpose, but I think I need to widen the spacing even more, + the earthway planter is hard to keep straight at times in this rock soil, (I need a planet junior, something taller and heavier) a hand held trimmer with the tiller attachment would work well here too, unless the rocks are too much on the one side. One pass by hand and it has shaded out most of the lower plants by now, I'll make one more pass, and side dress it. The grasses did take over my onions as they stunted too long, so I have to weed that by hand and see if whats there will grow, I need a lawn sweeper, as hay or mulch has been a pain to get without having a truck to use.

With the deer, I have found that liquid fence from TSC or elswhere does work nicely. I could not afford a decent fence, + its a pain to erect and take down, which I have done with the upper patch at times, I leave it now. You can get some inexpensive posts at TSC, the push in ones and then use a higher test fishing line, say with some clumps of beverage cans, on buckets, that will clang when the deer hit the line, that will pattern them away, as well as that spray, which reeks something awful, but dissipates as I can't smell it, deer and rabbits don't seem to like it. its $40 for concentrate that makes 5 gallons, which will go along way in a hand sprayer, I have been using it on a 35 x 80 area, mostly on corn and they have nailed just a few plants, all which came back given the rain, first year since '97 I've had sweet corn, the deer are thick and they are persistent here, so I know this does work, the corn was planted a month ago and the 64 day corn is waist high right now, also on new ground, I must have done something right !


Raised beds is also another consideration, seem to be a lot easier to deal with.

Most garden vegetables take well to POAST herbicide. It often has no injury on broadleaf vegetables but is deadly on grasses. If your big problem is grass no just give it a shot of POAST and you'll be amazed.

POAST also works well on getting rid of grassy weeds in Monkey Grass. It'll smoke the grass and the Monkey Grass will be shining like a new penny.

My wife and daughter have used Earth Boxes for growing veggies. They never have a weed problem.
Hal

Cover the plants you don't want killed and give it a light mist of Roundup.

Have the same issue. With the wet spring/early summer what little I did get in has disappeared simply becuase I can not walk in my clay ground garden if it's wet, Add the normal hectic farm schedule into it and my natural tendency to procrastinate....well, I have a great crop of PIG WEED!

I find that the hay mulch, solves this problem, I have the same sticky clay loam soils, but enough clay that it loads up the shoe soles, then you're headed into the house, you had best use a hoof pick or have dedicated boots to remove, over shoes, thick layer of mulch hay, right after you transplant works very well.

We use Preen landscape fabric that we buy at Sam's Club. For vine crops, we roll out strips the width of the garden, leaving a narrow gap in the middle for the crops. Pumpkins, squash, cukes, melons, etc. spread over the top of the fabric, weeds are smothered. We just have to weed the row. We only use the fabric one year in the garden, but after that year, we use it for long- term mulch around trees, bushes, grapevines, etc. You can use it for individual plant crops, like peppers and tomatoes, just spread the fabric, punch holes, and put plants in the holes. We don't bother with the little staples to hold down the fabric, but lay old steel posts around the edges instead. It makes for a little extra work and cost up front, but pays off ( for us, anyway) by saving time and providing better crops through the year. My sister spreads newspaper around her plants and waters them down right away, which seems to keep them from blowing away. Hope it helps.

WSMM,
God put weeds here for some reason, wish I knew why.

I decided to rethink how I garden. This year I used my loader to remove, not till in, the weeds from garden. Then I used a 12 inch post hole digger and made 3 ft holes. It took more time putting the PHD on the tractor than it did digging holes. Then I used 24 inch chicken wire 36 inches long. This protected my plants from the critters that like to eat my tomatoes and peppers with the chicken wire. About 8 inches of the wire is in the hole. Put the plants about 6 inches below the ground, so my holes are like rain barrels. It takes me less than 30 seconds per hole to fill them with water. I decided not to water the weeds. Also made so when it rains, the rain fills my water barrels.

It took about a month before the weeds started to grow. Then I covered my small garden with grass clippings from last year. I kept them in construction garbage bags.

Just now, weeds are trying to start to grow in the grass clippings. I will either cover them with more grass clippings or move them around a little.

I like the idea of a no till, no chemical garden. Do put fertilizer and lime in my rain barrels.

pic was taken a month or so ago. Tomatoes are just turning red. Peppers about 3 weeks ago.
George

Same thing happened here. We were getting plenty of rain and the weeds were doing well along with the veggies. Then I hurt my back and could barley walk. Chiropractor has me back in shape but while I was out the weeds took over something fierce. At the same time the rain altogether stopped. So trying to pull weeds was like pulling them out of concrete. I decided to mow them down as close to the ground as possible. Then pull the weeds around the individual plants. Thing I have noticed is the ground was not as dry and cracked where the weeds were thickest. They apparently protect the soil from the scorching heat. So I am not going to till up the weeds between the rows - just keep them mowed down and keep the weeds pulled around the base of the plants.