Re: Re: CULT: How to dry out bed?


>One method of making a weed free flower bed or vegetable bed is to
>use news paper.  My Irises are in a bed surrounded by land scape
>timbers.  I layered news papers on the bottom, six layers thick or
>more.  I do not plan on weeding.  The news paper will bio-degrade, in
>the mean time it keeps the weeds and grass from growing in my Iris
>bed.
>Lucy Harris  zone 8a - Coastal North Carolina

Thick layers of newspaper are an excellent deterrent to most weeds. I'm 
assuming that you add soil on top of the newspaper, and the irises are 
planted into this soil. How do you assure that this soil is completely weed 
free? Have you considered that many weed seeds are carried by wind, and may 
travel considerable distances, and find a nice place to grow among your 
irises? I do find that a little weeding at the right time (as they appear) 
saves cosiderable back breaking work later.
I always use newspaper under new beds, and when I mulch, I place sheets of 
newspaper on the surface of the soil, and pile the mulch on top. (Not a good 
idea getting this too close to your TB's) There are still a few weeds that 
manage to pop through, but they usually have fairly loose roots, and can be 
pulled out easily.
Cheers, Jan Clark, in Australia, where I will be enjoying another sunny day 
in the garden.
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