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Organic Gardening

Weed Barrier and Garden Prep

14 years ago

I want to prepare an area of my veggie garden that I am constantly battling weeds... My thoughts are to put down a weed barrier; cardboard boxes, plastic, or weed barrier cloth. If I put it down now (February) and leave it on til spring, will that be sufficient in blocking out the weeds? Or do I need to keep it on for one whole growing season? I hate to lose the area to fallow ground as I have limited space for my veggies.

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Comments (5)

rockguy
14 years ago
It does depend some on the weeds you're fighting. Any idea what they are, or if they're annual or not?
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david52 Zone 6
14 years ago
You pretty much have to leave it on all year around. But using a weed barrier and planting stuff in it is a common practice, so if you have cardboard / newspaper just stab a hole in it and plant, or with woven plastic weed barrier, just snip a small hole. You will likely have to replace the stuff every year, the organic matter just gets into the soil, the plastic stuff starts to unravel. But it sure beats weeding all the time.
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A landscaper used the weed cloth in my father-in-law's shrubbery beds and it was a nightmare! the weeds just germinated in the mulch on top of the cloth and sent tiny roots through the cloth into the soil. they were impossible to pull. I will never use the stuff. I just put down 10 to 15 layers of newspaper covered with wood chips. Those will work in vegetable or perennial beds and will smother the existing weed seeds. Every year, I add another layer of wood chips as the newspaper and older chips break down and enrich the soil. If weeds to appear, they're easy to pull. The man who cut down some trees for us has a good chipper and will deliver chips by the dump truck load for free because it saves him a trip to the landfill and a tipping fee. A lot of people won't use wood chips because they use up nitrogen as they decay, but if you let them sit for a couple of months before you spread them it's not a problem. I sometimes don't even do that and have not noticed that the plants have suffered from it. Also consider using a preemergent herbicide to keep the weed seeds from germinating. Preen is the easiest to find, but the garden stores may have others.
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I use shredded leaves. Oak leaves are especially good as mulch. You can shred them with the mower.
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What you use will depend on how those "weeds" spread round. An in soil barrier works, often, to contain "weeds" that spread by roots but is ineffective against "weeds" that spread by seeds. A 2 inch later of mulch may be just barely enough, usually I will plunk down 3 to 4 inches on top of newspaper and find that will contain most "weeds" for me. I have seen many places where some landscape fabric was plunked down and covered with 2 inches of a mulch and the "weeds" grow rampant in those beds.
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Comments (25)
The lobster stuff sounds like a Coast of Maine product. I like their products. Also like Dr Earth. I thought coir was very expensive but the block said it expanded. What are you planting? Seeds or started plants? I like to top my beds with composted horse manure but the great stuff I used to be able to get was composted with kitchen scraps and was beautiful. Sometimes you can find free aged manure on Craigslist but you also risk it bringing in some weed seeds. Might be best to continue with the mix of top soil and compost that you have already started. My lasagna raised beds do not have sides so they tend to be mounded. The grass from the lawn wants to move in but I edge the beds to make a slanted moat. If I have enough time and supplies, I put a layer of newspapers topped with grass clippings around the bed. I have never had grass come up through the bed from underneath but my bed starts out about 24" tall on top of a layer of wet newspapers. If built the year before, it settles down by half over the winter. If a piece of quack grass comes up in a bed, it usually has a runner root that has traveled in from the lawn. I do have miscellaneous weeds from windblown and bird dropped seeds. Most of these are hoed up or scraped up with my hand weeder in the spring.
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Kimmsr
14 years ago
You could put a weed barrier down now, cardboard, newspaper, but not plastic or weed barrier fabric and, depending on your soil temperature now, that might stop some "weed" growth. Those unwanted plants need soil temperatures almost as warm as the plants we desire to grow need to germinate, so it probably would be better to wait another month or two to do that.
All of my planting beds are covered with snow yet so laying down "weed" barriers now would be quite difficult.
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sustainahillbilly
14 years ago
I've found that after the first year of having a weed barrier I can just mulch thickly in following seasons and not have a serious weed issue.(I use newspapers with mulch on top... or cardboard w/mulch for stronger weeds).

If you have perennial weeds, strong vines, or large amounts of seeds in the soil (from weeds reseeding themselves there for a while) it might take longer.

I don't like fabric or plastic because I end up picking it out of the soil later as it breaks down.
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organicdan
14 years ago
There are several organic practices used in an effort to control weeds. I shall relate the cultural and mechanical methods.

Cultural: Suppression by Shading Â fast growing foliage
a. Fast germination and growth
b. Transplants Â a head start
c. Use of smother crop prior to planting (rye)
d. Mulch Â organic or inorganic

Mechanical Â removal
a. Pre-emergent tillage
b. Hand removal Â cultivator or hoe
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