About 7 years ago I created paths throughout my garden wth trex edging filled with 5/8" minus crushed rock but organic matter has gotten into them & created soil so now I have a lot of weeds & moss growing in them (I try to keep them clean but there's a greenbelt behind my property with tall trees). What's the best way to remove the organic matter before I add more crushed rock? I live close to Puget Sound so don't like to use chemicals except some vinegar. Do I need to use a shovel & scrape out the top few inches?
I have some bark-mulch paths around my veggie beds, which grow moss and weeds every year. I use the Tiger Torch I got a few years ago to control the emerging weeds on wet days in the spring. I do the beds themselves right before planting too. Quick, cheap and nothing left in the soil. Just have a hose handy and don't burn anything down! I don't know if this would work for you?
That would work in spring & fall but summer's our community has burn bans but getting rid of everything each spring would be a big help. Does burning the soil change the PH?
Change the pH? I don't know. I do know that there is one species of moss that seems to thrive on a bit of charring. My weeds in the Fraser Valley don't grow a lot over the summer when it's dry - I have a drip irrigation system for my vegetables, so there is no water sprayed around. Besides my Tiger Torch (wet days), I do use the hoe a lot & 10% vinegar as well.
It's dry here in the summer too & like you I have drip irrigation system so no water sprayed around (best investment I every made) & I use the Hula Hoe which also helps. Will try the torch this spring. Appreciate your help.
I am a retiered gardener (for 35 years) in the sarnia, ontario area . still get calls. I, like your self, only use chemicals as a last resort. Plan one: If your problem involves tap root, or wire root weeds like dandeloins or pigweed, wild violets, etc, get yourself a high end, three foot spraying wand with two or more spray heads. Use the one that gives your a tight line of spray. Put the head beside your weed and let it drill a nice tight hole right beside the target. In ten seconds you have a hole six to sixteen inches deep (type of soil and water pressure- adjust to taste) and large enough for you to, easily, get your finger down below the crown (knot above the root). Pinch it tight and it should pull the entire tap root right out. I got one little guy that was 16 inches (40 cm) long and just a bit more then a cm wide at the crown. That blew me away. If it resists, don't force it. Use the wand to expand the hole a bit and possibly go a bit deeper. 100% success and no restarts. Plan two: Is the professional answer. First you get a long handled spade, not the short little back breakers with the squared off handle. Make a 3'x3' (90x90 cm) frame c/w expanded metal screening or heavy wire screening used for birds and small animals. Since you built it correctly with fixed edging, six inches deep, (two inches into soil and filled the other three to four with rock), you go into the stone side ways, not straight down. Take out the rock and contaminants. Screen it. Wash out the dirt and Set aside the first few loads. Then as you go refill the empty space. At the end add your set aside stone. Nothing else looks as good as a path done right. Sometimes a lot of work. Did one 52x3' long (about 17x1m) every year. Plan three: Take an old bleach bottle and cut the top quarter off. Leave the neck and handle on. Cut from one side of the neck, down a litte less then to the middle of the bottle. use an old karate belt or anything else you have to tie it to your waist or leg above the knee. If you do the latter, leave the bottle deeper. Add a high nitrogen fertilizer like 42-0-0 or 32-4-8 etc. As you cut your grass, have an eye for the weeds. Spot one, overdose the weed. Up to ten-fifteen prills gets most, but weather and soil type, can make things very different. 2-3 days later, weeds should show evidence of death. After a week you can take some dish soap to the "white spots" to neutalize the nitrogen. Hose them down, nice and frothy. Throw in some seed and the lawn charges in. Around here a good choice (and cheap) is Canada NO.1 . Equal parts rye, fescue, and blue grass. I can email, "The Utimate Lawn- made cheap and easy", to you if you are serious about your lawn. cheers
I don't have many tap rooted weeds as I pull them when they're small. It's mostly shallow rooted weeds most of which I pulled last couple days (took advantage of good weather) but have thin layer of moss which I could scrape off with a sharp blunt nosed shovel (paths are about 300'x3' so a lot of work). I don't have any grass except decorative varieties, too many negatives so just have mixed borders & veggie beds. But the paths have so much soil/compost that unless I remove it I'll continue to have weeds & moss. Looks like I should take the pro route & hire labor to dig up the paths screen material & spread more crushed rock. My husband made a screen some years ago so I have that & I can dispose of all the organic material in the greenbelt behind our home. Thanks for your advice.
okay... too much crud and moss. i don't know what size your gravel is. here are some things that have worked for me in the past. plan A: spray the path with bleach. it will kill everything and 90% of the bleach will break down in about 12 hours. plan B: use some of that ice melter you have left over from winter. usually sodium chloride/ potassium chloride combination. plan C: get out your shop vac with a wand attachment. clean it out inside by sticking the wand in a bucket of water. suck up about 2 inches (5 cm) plan D: moss that gets in your lawn can be killed by just fertilizing your lawn. moss usually grows in poor soil conditions. ie: north side of a house. perpetually wet soil. thick shade. soil without lots of fertilizer and/or nutrients. anywhere grass won't grow. plan E: get a scouffle. that is a dutch push hoe. this can be pushed through the loose gravel or dirt (will not work in hard packed dirt or gravel) just under the surface. works like a charm. i can do ten acres in one day. just rake up what lays on the surface. let me know how these alternatives work if you try them. these are more solutions i came up with over the years to tackle difficult lawns and gardens.
Thanks for the suggestions. Paths are 5/8 minus crushed rock professionally installed about 10 years ago. The borders are Trex landscape edging but it's not very high so surrounding soil/compost slides into the paths & falling leaves/needles create more soil. A. Not sure about using bleach as ground slopes slightly & wouldn't want it to kill surrounding plants. B. I don't have ice melter, our weather is pretty mild. C. Have small shop vac but getting 2" of organic matter mixed in with a lot of crushed rock out of 300' of paths would require a much bigger vac than I have. Ran this by my husband & he doesn't want to use it for that purpose. D. Don't have any lawn so that's not an issue. E. Is a schuffle same as a Hula Hoe? It does a good job cutting down about 1" so I can rake up weeds but it doesn't remove the soil/organic material that's deeper in the paths. I think I need to do as instructed by another member & dig up several inches & fill with more crushed rock.
lol, well... forget that lasr effort. the shcuffle is a push hoe. the head is shaped like a boomarang on the end of a handle. comes in different sizes. it slides nicely under the ground. the hulu flip/flops on the end of the handle. you'll never do it with a hulu. lots of luck cheers
