Plant growbeds and weeds

[johnplants]

Hi;
Last year i put in some growbeds to plant,plants i want to grow in my little
nursery.
I had to have dirt trucked in for these beds and the dirt was full of weeds seeds.
I am tilling the dirt this winter every two weeks all winter in hope to reduce the bad weeds befor nexst spring so i can plant some lanscape plants in the dirt.
Any ideas here will help me a lot.

Thanks

[PlantSwap]

I get weeds in my beds no matter what I do. The only thing I have found effective is to pull their roots diligently (ie. every day) - which I did a poor job of last year. This Spring is going to be fun...

[butterhoney]

I have had success in really knocking out weeds by taking my grass clippings and immediately mulching any garden space that I don't want weeds to continue to grow in. It tends to smother out the unwanted grass/weeds if you pile it on thick. During the summer, these fresh green grass clippings will heat up quite a bit if it's sunny and this heat really knocks out the weeds. Of course, it's much easier for me to mulch w/ grass clippings as my John Deere riding mower is equipped w/ a mulch bagger! Plus. as the grass clippings break down, they will feed the soil. I still augment this, of course, with some manual weed root pulling. Good luck!

[txbeyer]

As a master gardener, we preach "composting" but when you have a very small yard, it is nearly impossible to find available space for a compost pile to place all those grass clippings and other organic materials in and if I did find space, the volume of compost would be pretty minimal. So, I like the idea of just topdressing with organic clippings, as long as they don't contain weed seed - but in virtually all cases, they will. Then if the soil gets too hot, it could damage plant roots and require more frequent watering. If you mix the clippings into the soil, they rob the available nitrogen during the decomposition process requiring supplemental fertilizing, so the bottom line is - there is no perfect solution. I just buy bagged compost to supplement my garden beds than top mulch with native hardwood to help keep our soils cooler to reduce water loss in summer and keep soils warmer in winter. I do spread leaves on my beds in winter which don't decompose, but help prevent soil freezing and block weed seeds from germinating,and will eventually decompose during summer without introducing weed seed. Weeds will always be a gardener's nightmare. They just find a way to survive and thrive.

[Christina]

Hi;
Last year i put in some growbeds to plant,plants i want to grow in my little
nursery.
I had to have dirt trucked in for these beds and the dirt was full of weeds seeds.
I am tilling the dirt this winter every two weeks all winter in hope to reduce the bad weeds befor nexst spring so i can plant some lanscape plants in the dirt.
Any ideas here will help me a loastic Thanks

If you don't have anything planted yet,You could put plastic down. This will heat up and kill the weed seeds Once the seeds weed are dead take up the plastic. Might take about a mounth depending on the weather.

[snowmm]

Wow - I thought I was the only one with the weed problem. It's thistle and it has wrapped itself around a lot of my bushes.

When I transplant the bushes these next two weeks I'm going to soak the dirt off them and take out the thistle vines...hoping that this will eliminate the stuff moving to the next spot. Them I'm going to Round-Up the heck out of the spot I'm moving from. I'm extending the driveway to that spot so the only thing that I care about is some grass growing around brinks next year.

I've paid hundreds of dollars to have people come in and remove and treat the thistle. Nothing has helped except to dig up the bed and start over.

Several years went by before I figured out where the thistle came from and guess what. The next time I went there I took notice and right next to the bulk mulch and dirt was a field full of thistle. I complained to the establishment but it didn't do any good. I don't know if they treat their buck for weeds but I don't buy from them anymore. Come to think of it...I haven't bought any plants from them in several years either.

BUT you bet...if I buy bulk...from now on I'm going to make sure that I check out what blows their way.

Hey, I might try the pastic since I have a roll of it in the back of my car.