July- It’s all about Weed Control

Contributed by Jody Bortone, July’s “Garden Eyes”

 Source:

Bellinder, R.R., Kline, R.A., & Warholic, D.T. (n.d.).  Weed control for the home vegetable garden.  Cornell Cooperative Extension.

 Along with our beginning July harvest, come lots of weeds.  In addition to hoeing and hand        weeding, here are some tips to keep the weeds down:

·          Keep the perimeter of your garden weed free to prevent invasion into your plot.

·          Use mulch.  Some natural suggestions:

o   1” - 2” of grass clippings FREE of HERBESIDES, PESTESIDES, & FERTELIZER

o   4” – 6” salt hay or straw.  Water well before putting this down.

o   4 sheet thickness of newspaper, weighted down with rocks to prevent it from blowing all over the garden.

·           Successive planting; as soon as you harvest, plant another type of flower or vegetable.  Crowd out the weeds with plants you want to harvest or admire

·          Plant a grassy cover crop between rows and areas you are not going to re-plant.  Some suggestions include

o   Chewing fescue; Kentucky bluegrass, red fescue, tall fescue, dwarf white clover, wild white clover

·          Water only at the base of the plant—not leaves, ground, or between rows.  Water the plants you want to grow—not the weeds

See you in the garden!