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How to get rid of weeds permanently.

8 years ago

Hi, I am currently living in california and I have a weed problem with an approximate 5 x 10 plot of land. It has a lot of weeds growing on top of it and I can't just mow them away since all these weeds are growing on top of this rock bed that the previous owner used to try to prevent weeds. There are two different kind of rocks that I observed, with one being larger sized in colors of orange and white predominantly and the other kind being smaller with colors of red and black mainly. To make things worse, for some reason there is a lot of soil underneath the weeds and in between the rocks of all sorts and sizes, so it was very hard to dig up with a shovel. I cleared a corner and tried to dig out as much soil as I could, but I soon realized there was very compacted soil about 2-3 inches down from the top, so it was very hard to get anywhere deeper looking for the base I was hoping for. I also found a tree stump in the middle of the weeds, it seemed kinda mushy and was quite easy to break apart but it was quite big too, thus I suspect the soil goes much deeper than I can predict.

My goal is to make this plot weed free for a long long time. My dad did tell me to try get rid of all the soil, rocks and weed to try to make a patio out of it but now I think that might not be feasible and would require too much effort to do so.

My question is what should I do now? I'm just getting rid of the weeds by hand (most of them have dried up and died due to summer but there are a lot of seeds around in the soil) but I don't think that would stop the weeds from growing again later.

Thank you for your time.

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Comments (2)

purslanegarden
8 years ago

First remove the rocks, so that you can actually get to the soil. You said you can't even weed properly because of these rocks, so they need to get moved. That can be manual or you can use some machines but it'll cost you money or time.

Secondly, once the rocks are removed, you can amend the soil and keep on it to stop future weeds. That may include chemicals or doing it by hand, but actually when you get that initial rush of weeds down, staying on top of it can be done on a regular basis.

Thirdy, you'll want to put something there to crowd out the weeds. That could be mulch or other actual plants.

Fourth, you can also treat this patch like you would other parts of your grassy yard and follow a weeding schedule throughout the year, such as using pre-emergents or weed killer at the appropriate times of the year.
Titus Lee thanked purslanegarden
Titus Lee
Original Author
8 years ago
I'm currently in the process of digging up all the rocks and soil about 3 inches down from the top since all of the seeds are just mixed in the soil so i figure I have to get rid of it so that they wont grow next time.

I'm more of thinking to maybe make a patio out of it or just pour cement or asphalt to just fill it up so that it won't have any more chances for weed to grow in the future?
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