I had a vegetable garden overrun with witch grass once. I didn't know what it was at the time and used a rototiller on it. Big mistake. Made it much worse. It got to the point that I gave up on the garden for two years. Then after research, I decided to use a large piece of clear plastic leftover from an ice rink we had n the yard, and covered the entire area that was about 25x25 feet, with the plastic, weighed it down with bricks and left it there for a whole year. It worked great. We were able to reclaim that area and I got rid of about 90% of the witch grass. I don't know anything about bermuda grass, but I'd research ways of getting rid of that. I can't see using a chemical to get rid of it, in a 50x60ft area where you are going to grow food. If you can't do that, I would think thick cardboard with heavy mulch would be your next best bet. And it will improve the soil and increase your earthworms.

Here goes, Bart. Lavender lass, I sure wish my garden had a few horses wandering around. Fenced from the garden, of course. That's what my property was when I bought it in 1978, a horse pasture with native alder, maple, hemlock and Doug fir. I rented a bulldozer and put in a driveway and cleared an area for a manufactured home. After that was done an acquaintance needed a place to store his bulldozer. My place was the logical choice. He said I could run it as much as I wanted as long as I kept it full of fluids. After a couple of years I had dug 12 ponds and cleared a lot of land and started growing plants for my landscaping business, focusing on the not so common plants and buying the more common ones wholesale. I propagated them from seeds and cuttings. Made a lot of trades too. Along the way I kept planting trees and shrubs for myself and slowly phasing out the nursery beds. Most of them went through several moves before they found a permanent home. Now, after 35 years, I'm doing a lot of editing. That means cutting lower branches off some trees and sawing down others. I'm even turning the larger rhododendrons in to trees by pruning them to look like trees. Lately I'm concentrating on planting more groundcovers and enlarging and redoing a rock garden. Every so often almost every part of the garden needs a reshuffle. That's the fun part! I really enjoy my neighbor's horse in the pasture next door. He also raises a couple of Angus each summer for beef. Lavender lass, there IS country on this side of the state. ;-) Mike...from Peone Prairie near Mt. Spokane

I am glad to hear I am not the only one with these little lovelies!! I did go through and weed them all out yesterday and it was very easy and quick. So, I won't complain too much. I am trying a different kind of garden soil on the next bed I am finishing. We'll see if that helps or hinders. I did find a blown-in dandelion sitting in one bed yesterday. We have had a lot of wind, so I expect that is my culprit. Thanks for all the input, I am looking forward to a fun summer of gardening and pulling those little devil weeds! See below, I have added a picture of my new garden - I love it!!! I can't wait to finish it. The curbed in place to the left will be for my corn and pumpkins, we grow lots of pumpkins!! Can someone help me out on this adding a picture thing: I don't think it is working for me:( Can anyone see the picture? Happy Gardening All, g Here is a link that might be useful: My New Garden

Those humongous beetle grubs really do help break down organic matter into compost! When I opened one plastic bag of leaves, which I had been saving since spring, I was surprised to find nothing but pure black evenly moist compost. What???? When I emptied the bag I found about about 18 huge rhinoceros beetle grubs in it . Evidently a mama beetle had laid her eggs in the leaves, rain water had leaked in to provide moisture and those guys went to work making wonderful rich compost. The 18 grubs went into my compost pile to finish their life cycle and the compost into the hole where I am transplanting some yellow cestrum ... :-) Isn't nature amazing! Oh, and I had enough leaves to thickly cover the barely emerging weeds, which will be enough to smother them.