Corrine1: Good idea of putting carpet upside down, the furry side down and the solid plain side up. Flora UK: I can accept the logic of chemicals leaching out of the carpet. However plastics are used in many of the things in the garden. The plastic weed block would also decay and produce some byproducts. Infact the carpets inside the house being in a closed space perhaps produce a lot more products of decay, formaldehyde etc and we are perhpas exposed to lot more inside the home than one would be in the open outdoors. I agree that you perhpass should not call a garden with carpet an "organic garden".

FYI.... seems to very much depend on the % of HCN... I dont know much about it, but some interesting reading... --------------------- ----------------------- EFFECT ON PLANT LIFE Seeds HCN applied in dosages effective ageinst insects does not affect the viability of seeds that are normally dry, with moisture contents suitable for storage. In a comprehensive study, the results of which were published between 1959 and 1961, Strong and Lindgren studied the effect of HCN in insecticidal concentrations on the germination of a wide range of seeds, including grain seeds, flax and small legumes. The variable factors considered were moisture content (8 to 14 percent), repeat fumigations and postfumigation storage. It wes concluded that germination of wheat, barley, oats, rice and flax seeds wes not impaired by one or two famigations with HCN. With the small legumes with a range of 5.8 to 12.2 percent moisture content (Ranger alfalfa, alsike clover, Ladino clover, Kenland red clever and Viking birdsfoot trefoil), all were tolerant to HCN in one or two fumigations, except aisike clover for which there was positive indication of impairment of germination. Among 80 varieties of grain, vegetable and flower seeds tested by Lindgren et al (1955), six showed evidence of reduced germination. These were pole beans, burnet, California black mustard, smilo, marigold and snapdragon. It may be concluded that HCN is a safe fumigant to use for seed treatment, especially for cereal grains under normal conditions, but with flower and vegetable seeds preliminary trials with local varieties are advisable. Growing Plants and Trees A considerable amount of injury, either temporary or permanent, may be sustained by actively growing plants fumigated with HCN. Because this gas is very soluble in water, special precautions have to be taken to reduce the amount of moisture on leaves and stems and in pots or soil balls of actively growing plants. Therefore, the plants should not be watered for one or more days before treatment. After treatment with HCN, it is necessary to wash the plants with water to remove any residual acid. HCN interferes with photosynthesis and other physiological processes (Moore and Willaman, 1917); for that reason, plants may be more susceptible to injury in daylight. Usually, treatments have to be carried out at night or in the dark. Also, following exposure, plants should be kept away from sunlight for several hours. In the past HCN was widely used for fumigating ornamental and glasshouse plants, but it has been replaced by other fumigants that are less phytotoxic. The use of HCN generated from calcium cyanide to control glasshouse pests is discussed in Chapter 12. HCN was extensively used for may years to control scale insects on citrus trees in a tent fumigation procedure (Quayle, 1938). In this treatment, HCN gas (5 g/m ) from liquid HCN, or evolved from a salt such as calcium cyanide, was liberated into a relatively gas-tight tent installed over the tree and maintained for usually around 45 mintues. A number of factors, including temperature, humidity, physiological conditions of the tree (such as dormancy, disease, cultural conditions, stage of development and others), have considerable influence on the tolerance of the trees to the fumigant (Woglum, 1923). Since different species or varieties of citrus trees show wide variation in response and the insects in different areas may vary in tolerance, the actual conditions of treatment usually have to be developed to suit local circumstances. In scale insect eradication work, where complete kill of all insects is essential, the tent fumigation treatment with HCN has been found to be a valuable technique (Fosen et al, 1953). HCN was used by Del Rivero et al, (1974) to control larvae and eggs of the woolly white fly on orange trees. While the concentrations of HCN required to kill insects may cause severe injury to growing plants, lower concentrations of HCN may stimulate growth and be useful in "forcing" growth in some species (Gassner, 1925). Dormant Nursery Stock HCN is still used in many parts of the world for the fumigation of the dormant nursery stock of deciduous trees, especially in quarantine treatments against the spread of scale insects (Ceder and Mathys, 1949; van de Pol and Rauws, 1957; Agarwala, 1956; Jen and Lai, 1959). As in growing plants, a marked stimulation has been noticed in some nursery stock fumigated with HCN (Cassner, 1925). Immediately following fumigation it is sometimes necessary to wash plants with water to avoid the burning of buds and new foliage. ---------- Cyanide production by rhizobacteria and potential for suppression of weed seedling growth. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11400067 Here is a link that might be useful: Cyanide production by rhizobacteria and potential for suppression of weed seedling growth.

A chain with one end around the juniper and the other end around the trailer hitch of a big car is so quick and easy and permanent. I did it last summer, and the shrubs were right up against my front porch. No damage to the house or the porch. I am so glad I did it and those ugly things are gone. Put the car in drive, and it's done. And it's fun in a gentlemen-start-your-engines sort of way. I had been dreaming about getting rid of those shrubs for years and years. It was so much fun to see them go in 20 minutes. So far it's been my favorite part of gardening.

I think cardboard and or newspaper, then peastraw, then bark mulch like pine it naturally suppresses weeds, also this mainly suppresses the old weeds, some will naturally pop up in the mulch as it breaks down from any seeds or new running weeds from lawns or fence lines etc. I'm creating a brand new cutting flower bed in our orchard, trying to spray the woody weeds (different ones here in our country) and then a general spray possibly a few times a few weeks apart, then layering cardboard on the stubborn areas, thick newspaper on the others, then using some cut up branches from tree pruning, then peastraw, then compost, then rinsed off fresh kelp seaweed from our local beach, then bark mulch, leave it to break down over our mostly wet winter here. Then come spring after the last frost I'll begin planting out seedling started in trays. I'll have to maintain the weeding as we get a lot of wind, may try spot treatment dab on weed killers but see how we go. Because of our compacted clay soil the lasagne gardening style seems to work well. One think I found was running weeds tried to creep into the mulch so wil try to cut out large gutters and weed spray these. Then mostly I just dig blood and bone into the planting holes. Using leaf mulch around plant bases can work too. Lots of different methods I think it can depend on what you need. I found the weed suppressant mat wasn't permeable enough for water, in a heavy rain the mulch washed off areas since the water wasn't absorbed fast enough into the soil, and then weeds actually grew on top of it anyway from seed so a waste of money in my opinion. Try libraries for newspaper, and maybe a big white ware or electronics store for cardboard.