Easy way to kill weed & prepare for gardening

[Anonymous]

I want to do in a fast and easy way to clean up weed for gardening. Can I dig all weed up with a big metal snow shovel & throw them in a trash bag, apply weed killer, put some garden soil & apply fertilizer/compost, put plants and saplings, and then apply mulch on the same day? I don’t think those weeds have deep roots, so shovel can get rid of most of them. With application of weed killer, I think weed leftover root should die on its own, right?

[Anonymous]

Hire someone to pull weeds and plant for you.

[Anonymous]

I would separate it into two days. One day to dig it up and apply the weed killer, next day to add soil and plants. Or at least wait several hours between applying the weed killer and putting any new plants in.
In between, be sure to cover the area so seeds don’t blow in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire someone to pull weeds and plant for you.

It is a small piece of area like 30 square ft. I want to give it a try, but I am not sure if should I do it over multiple days to let weed application work before applying more things on top, and also let soil settle, or let soil get conditioned by compost before planting there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would separate it into two days. One day to dig it up and apply the weed killer, next day to add soil and plants. Or at least wait several hours between applying the weed killer and putting any new plants in.
In between, be sure to cover the area so seeds don’t blow in.

Good idea, thank you.

[Anonymous]

You mean a hoe? That's the purpose of a hoe. I personally just like to pull weekds, then add soil/peat, then mulch. If you had enough mulch, the weeds won't come through. You can also line with paper bags before mulching to stop weeds.

I wouldn't apply weed killer at all, especially if you're going to be digging there the next day. That sounds like the route to cancer.

[Anonymous]

You don’t need weed killer for such a small area. Dig up the earth, pull out the weeds and let it settle for a few days. Pull out any stragglers that remain. Then amend the soil and plant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hire someone to pull weeds and plant for you.

It is a small piece of area like 30 square ft. I want to give it a try, but I am not sure if should I do it over multiple days to let weed application work before applying more things on top, and also let soil settle, or let soil get conditioned by compost before planting there.

Weed killer is a substitute for work, right? You're looking for the easiest way. I'm suggesting not indulging in environmental toxins when there's an alternative.

Weeding is tedious. I hate it. But that doesn't mean I have a license to dump Roundup everywhere.

(I'm not totally pure. I have a little Roundup that I bust out when it's a good year for poison ivy.)

[Anonymous]

If you are going to be putting topsoil and compost on top, you may be able to just smother the weeds - layer of newspaper, then topsoil and compost.
Look up lasagna gardening.

[Anonymous]

I’m against roundup. I haven’t used it on any house I’ve owned since 2005. But then....we used it!! Ugh. It seemed to kills most of the weeds, but not the invasive grass that I can get rid of.

[Anonymous]

LOL! Do you know they will come back? Buy tenacity, spray, and wait for them to die out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean a hoe? That's the purpose of a hoe. I personally just like to pull weekds, then add soil/peat, then mulch. If you had enough mulch, the weeds won't come through. You can also line with paper bags before mulching to stop weeds.

I wouldn't apply weed killer at all, especially if you're going to be digging there the next day. That sounds like the route to cancer.

This.

Also do the weeding, put your plants in, lay down damp newspaper around, then mulch.

And put more plants in. That crowds out the weeds. Don’t waste time using weed killer. Some seeds can live for decades.

[Anonymous]

Weed killer (Roundup) works by being absorbed into the leaf of a plant, then working its way to the root. It takes a few days to kill the root. If you spray the soil that still has weed roots in it the weeds won't die - they'll just come back from the root.

You can (though I advise against it) spray your entire weedy area with Roundup, then wait for a few days. You don't need to even remove the dead weeds at this point, just put compost on top, plant, then mulch. Easy, but you've just put more poison into the planet.

Or you can break the soil up with a garden fork, then go through pulling the weeds out. Get as many weeds and roots as you can. Then add compost, smooth it out, and you can either wait a day or two for it to settle or go ahead and plant. I am an avid gardener and I ALWAYS do it the same day - I garden when I have free time, and I don't have time for that waiting nonsense. Maybe sure to water well after you plant and then MULCH HEAVILY.

[Anonymous]

I went a little different way to solve the weed problem. After looking on the Internet, I found the site https://mygardenzone.com/best-weed-barriers/. Here they talk in detail about barriers against weeds. This is a very convenient option using a special film that prevents weeds from germinating on your beds and in your garden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went a little different way to solve the weed problem. After looking on the Internet, I found the site https://mygardenzone.com/best-weed-barriers/. Here they talk in detail about barriers against weeds. This is a very convenient option using a special film that prevents weeds from germinating on your beds and in your garden.

Do not use "weed barriers" in a yard unless they are biodegradable. It is overkill and a temporary solution that becomes a new problem. It is really meant for highly maintained commercial areas and in between farm rows.

Think about it. You are putting a layer of plastic on the ground. This traps what is underneath (good stuff like nutrients and bad like perennial weeds), but also blocks access from things you put on top new plants that need access to the deep soil). Also, new weed seeds land on top of it and take hold in the soil and composting materials that will gather on top of the barrier, so you have weeds again anyway. And the most tenacious weeds will root through the barrier anyway and then you will have a heck of a time removing both the weed and the plastic barrier.

Smother and replant is the fastest method if you don't want to use physical labor to remove the weeds. Layer the area with wet newspaper, compost or leaf mold on top, another layer of each if you have time, then mulch. Plant straight through it all. You can also use cardboard. This method has the added benefit of feeding and improving the soil.

Just remember that no matter what you do, there will always be new weed seeds landing on top of whatever you just did and taking root. Your efforts will always be temporary, whether you take to the soil with herbicides, pesticides, plastic, paper, mulch or a hoe. Dense planting of the things you want will best keep the weeds at bay.