Garden weeds

Get one of these, it's all I use and I can keep my garden as clean as the one in the following video. It's a push pull action somewhat like a hula hoe but ten times better. I carry mine to the garden on every trip and always find a few weeds that need some TLC. it only takes a few minutes to slide it along the edge of plants and you're done. It's called a Hook and Crook. Check out the video.

"gene"

YouTube

That’s very similar to the stirrup hoe. I have the one from Johnny seeds and it’s nice. But when the weeds get big or carried away it’s a lost cause. Like you said though if you always do some it’s easier, just don’t get busy and miss a couple days....lol.

https://youtu.be/q6w-UteF9Z4

This will be my 3rd year in a row using 5 oz. Dewitt black landscape fabric in the garden & I can't recommend it enough. I fertilize/lime & till the garden up good initially and don't have to do it again for the rest of the year. It comes in 3ft or 4ft widths. After each season I have pulled & rolled it up for the next year. The only weeds you will have is what sprouts right at the base of each vegetable plant. Last year I mulched each plant with old newspaper. Between the rows covered in the fabric & the newspaper mulch I had very few weeds. And you can walk thru the garden even during a rain & not get muddy. I'm hoping to get several years out of it before replacing. Now if I can get rid of the deer & raccoon issues I'll be doing good. Looking forward to another gardening season as it's currently snowing outside my window.

I round up in fall and in spring before planting, wait a couple of days and plant.

Here is my recipe for keeping the weeds at bay:

I have broken the recipe down into smaller amounts, so you do not have to make the full gallon.
All of the ingredients used are not harmful to the environment.
Vinegar is a desiccant, which will dry out plant material
Epson Salts is also a desiccant.
Dawn Dish soap is used as a surfactant to help keep the solution in contact with the leaves.

I get the white distilled vinegar from Walmart Great Value 1 gallon size.

Epson Salts from Walmart I believe 8 pound bag, about $5.00. In the personal health section.

I use the Great Value dish soap, blue, just about the same as the Dawn soap.

I have broken down the recipe into smaller proportions, so you do not have to go out and try the gallon until comfortable using.


It will kill anything you spray it on. Just mix and spray in the morning, After the dew has evaporated. Walk away. Go back after diner and the weeds are all gone.

Cheaper than anything you can buy anywhere. Never buy Round-up again.
Annoy Monsanto


1 gallon of vinegar
2 cups Epson salts
¼ cup dawn dish soap


½ gal of vinegar 1 cup Epson salts
1/8 cup 1 cup [US] = 16 Tablespoon [US] = 2 tablespoon dawn dish soap

¼ gal (1 quart, or 4 cups = 1 quart) of vinegar
½ cup Epson salts
1/16 cup 1 cup [US] = 16 Tablespoon [US] = 1 tablespoon dawn dish soap
2 cups of vinegar
¼ cup Epson salts
1/32 cup 1 cup [US] = 16 Tablespoon [US] = ½ tablespoon dawn dish soap

With the wife's health issues she is not a fan of any chemicals in the garden. I read somewhere awhile back, (I think Mother Earth News) to quit disturbing the entire soil bed to plant, just do the area your planting as this will keep the weed seeds that are buried in the ground from being disturbed and germinating.
I went to raised beds five years ago to ease the weeding and planting. I made six of them 4 x 8. Amazing how much you can get in them. Now it's just the wife and I so last year I pulled up two of them and used the lumber to extend the height of other four, even less stooping. :ThumbsUp
There is plenty of room to walk around them and once or twice a week I run the hoe around them or hand pick what weeds do come up in ten minutes I'm done.

What flycaster said works great. I can attest to that, we use table salt over Epsom salts generally. Epsom salt can also be a low grade fertilizer..

I use what flycaster said, works great