how to best prepare garden from grass covered sod and weed seeds

[jyoutz]

KG, how does watering the soil work? We also receive frequent "gusty days w 25-30mph winds and that wreaks havoc on keeping down the plastic or anything similar.

I’m thinking that if you were willing to accept a fallow year, you could periodically till then water to germinate weed seeds, then till again. Repeat throughout the growing season. This would substantially reduce the soil seedbank of weeds.

 

[tstex]

all plastic does is harbor bugs/worms under it and the ground gets/stays slimy cause air/light cant get under it! -- Its the WORST stuff on planet earth for gardens! It kills the soil!
ONLY way to keep weeds out is a good pre-emerge herbicide early and a LOT of hand weeding during growing season.
I do 4.5 acre garden here every year and to cultivate between rows I use TB Horse tillers til rows close in then I use the little TB Tuffy tiller the rest of the season.

"ONLY way to keep weeds out is a good pre-emerge herbicide early..."

Sonny, what type of pre emergent herbicide do you use for vegetable gardening?

When you state "early", what does that mean in relation to your timing on planting or similar? Time planting zones are quite diff than yours, so I need to normalize the timeframes...thanks

 

[jyoutz]

"ONLY way to keep weeds out is a good pre-emerge herbicide early..."

Sonny, what type of pre emergent herbicide do you use for vegetable gardening?

When you state "early", what does that mean in relation to your timing on planting or similar? Time planting zones are quite diff than yours, so I need to normalize the timeframes...thanks

The problem with pre-emergent herbicides is that they also prevent vegetable seeds from germinating. I guess it would be ok if you are just growing transplants.

 

[Sonny580]

Pre- emerge does NOT prevent veggies from sprouting! I spray half dose after I till and lightly incorporate it in then plant.
I have used Me-Too for all the years its been out.
It can be applied a couple weeks before you plant but dont till more than 2" deep before you plant or you mess up the herbicide layer and get seeds above it. Thats why I wait til I am ready to plant and ground is still loose from the tiller.
I fall plow deep with a moldboard plow after I subsoil 36" deep with the subsoiler then in spring till 2 times with the 72" KK tiller on the 340 tractor.
After the second till, I spray, incorporate, then plant.
Been doing this forever here in central Il.

 

[tstex]

The problem with pre-emergent herbicides is that they also prevent vegetable seeds from germinating. I guess it would be ok if you are just growing transplants.

Yes, you are correct...what I plan on doing is buying these types of seeds and germinate them in 3" plastic containers and transplant:

-3 types of squashes
-2 types of string beans
-smaller 'pickling' cucumbers

Already in 4 & 6 pack plants:

*3-4 diff types of tomatoes
*2-3 types of peppers
*jalapeno peppers
*eggplant
*onions

Seeds I will forego:

-carrots
-radishes
-lettuce

 

[JCoastie]

seems like an awful lot of unnecessary work.

My wife and I made a small garden a few years ago, we used unbroken ground covered in grass and weeds.
It was winter (in the south) so we scraped a bit of the dormant grass to begin with.
I rented a 5' tiller and tilled the area twice. My wife raked the few bits that were left.

I ran the tractor in the newly tilled fluffy dirt, and that's how I made the rows, the tires made the low flat areas, and the middle was the ridge to plant in.

When grass was cut on the weekends, my wife put fresh the clippings (grass, weeds, seeds and all) on the ridges and then eventually in the troughs for weed control. To my surprise that all worked well.

Pretty simple process really. No chemicals, etc. don't over think it.

Just till it this year and see if your family maintains care and interest, if they do and want to continue, address any issues next year.

 

[jyoutz]

Pre- emerge does NOT prevent veggies from sprouting! I spray half dose after I till and lightly incorporate it in then plant.
I have used Me-Too for all the years its been out.
It can be applied a couple weeks before you plant but dont till more than 2" deep before you plant or you mess up the herbicide layer and get seeds above it. Thats why I wait til I am ready to plant and ground is still loose from the tiller.
I fall plow deep with a moldboard plow after I subsoil 36" deep with the subsoiler then in spring till 2 times with the 72" KK tiller on the 340 tractor.
After the second till, I spray, incorporate, then plant.
Been doing this forever here in central Il.

I don’t understand how this works. Pre-emergent herbicides prevent seed germination of all plants, not just weeds. Is this a timing thing? Please explain.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

all plastic does is harbor bugs/worms under it and the ground gets/stays slimy cause air/light cant get under it! -- Its the WORST stuff on planet earth for gardens! It kills the soil!
ONLY way to keep weeds out is a good pre-emerge herbicide early and a LOT of hand weeding during growing season.
I do 4.5 acre garden here every year and to cultivate between rows I use TB Horse tillers til rows close in then I use the little TB Tuffy tiller the rest of the season.

You won't find a watermelon, cantaloupe or strawberry patch of any size here in Florida that isn't on plastic with a drip irrigation system, so these farmers down here haven't got the memo yet about how bad that plastic is, there is a u-pick strawberry patch about 2 miles down the road and they have been planting all their vegetables on plastic for the last 20 years, same piece of dirt year after year.

 

[Yander]

On the lighter side (not really, this is a dead serious issue)

Introduce Asian Jumping Worms to the garden spot. They will "consume" the top three inches of organic rich soil and leave crumbly castings that allow weeds to be pulled with just a tug of the fingers.

Ask me how I know this.

Have you tried fencing your garden and dropping in a half dozen chickens? I think chickens would go to town on those dudes.

 

[KennyG]

KG, how does watering the soil work? We also receive frequent "gusty days w 25-30mph winds and that wreaks havoc on keeping down the plastic or anything similar.

Some people plant through plastic, but I have only used it to kill the plants on new plots. Then I pull the plastic off, plant and mulch with newspaper or straw. Once it gets wet, it isn't going anywhere. Over the years, I have invested in soaker hoses which I run through the planting so I just turn the faucet on and off. Of course, in our climate we don't have to water nearly as much as you folks in the South do, especially with mulching.