Re: Killing weeds with fire?
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Killing weeds with fire?
- From: P*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 13:58:55 EDT
Chris, I wrote the following letter the day I read your post intending to add
to and send later -- but after returning to the list and reading all the
responses, I didn't have the heart to send my get-in-there-and-DIG banner, my
archaic method seems really outdated in this crowd ;-)
But now that you've brought up the matter of
"digging," I'll add my 2 cents even if it is "ICK!"
Chris, it sounds as if you're in the
mood for a major project; and a dramatic one at that with the Fire and Water
plan* Roundup can be so fickle and such a pain. The applying..the
waiting...and on and on. My tried and true labor intensive tactic: You and
your trusty spade get out there and dig. I suspect this is hardly the advice
you meant to solicit, but when all the folderol of other, probably easier
methods is said and done; digging and cleaning the area out yourself is the
ticket! I can already hear many voices in
protest, my father's being the loudest. He is champion of the Apply the
Roundup; Put-Down-the-Black-Plastic School. There IS no other means of
removing weeds and grass for people of this persuasion, period. While my
method may be a little backbreaking, it does the trick for me and in far less
time than the Roundup or the Black Plastic. First, the fun part -- I edge the
entire perimeter with a spade/shovel. I've seen lots of people use the garden
hose design here: placing your hose as a guide along the perimeter of the
bed, then edging alongside the hose. This is supposed to be very helpful for
curving borders, but I'm certain I'd splice the thing in two and it seems an
unnecessary measure to me -- freehand design works nicely.
Next comes the not-so-fun part. Deep digging and turning. This
can be done in one or two steps: digging half the depth you need to go and
leaving it all overturned to dry -- which makes it easier to get all the
visible weeds out. OR digging the entire depth at least 8" (though more is
better I think) and turning it for a few days until you've manually removed
all the weeds. Sometimes when I'm dealing with monster soil, I divide up the
job, but it seems that more weed seeds stick around this way. If I can
overturn the entire area and get the weeds out before it rains (no drought
joke intended) -that seems to help keep the area cleaner of errant seeds
appearing later, too.
Depending upon how driven you are to complete the job,
the bed could be ready for planting in a week I like to wait about a week or
so to monitor the success of the weed removal, then add all the good stuff
and give it a chance to settle in before what I call the "desert" of the job,
PLANTING! All this home-style
advice is probably more than you needed to hear or perhaps NOT even close to
what you wanted to hear! While the vision of torching a
soon-to-be-perennial-bed has a swashbuckling attraction to it, it struck me
as a bit severe; but I could be dead wrong. You'll have to let us know what
you decide and how it goes. Beginning a new bed is so exciting -- what are
you planting?
Chris it's my guess you'll want to add Preem to
this digging menu. Immediately after digging or at the very end of the
process?
Good Luck!
Holly
Zone 7
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