Hi all, We've just moved to the San Diego, CA area from Canada, and I have to say, I am just astounded at how weeds are just...people's "grass". Literally. I have a yard to deal with that has unknown number of years of weed seeds embedded. Normally, I would think to take out all the present living weeds, rototill, plant established plants and weed like crazy. But. These weed seeds are just too daunting in number. What do I do??? It looks like every other person in the area either gives up and lets the weeds take over or imports a mat of grass to cover them (not an option for me, I want a real garden). Oh, and burning (my first horrified thought) isn't an option. :P Thanks in advance, I don't want to be the proud owner of a magnificient weedpatch for long. =) Katherine
OK, the fastest and easiest way to go about de-weeding your soil is probably to just buy black plastic and cover all your exposed dirt, weeds and all, for a month or so. They'll die off without producing more seeds, and then you can rototill and start planting and weeding like crazy. This way you're not nuking your soil with chemicals.
Thanks, Lorax But would it kill the seeds already in the soil? Here the summers are hot, but weed seeds are ....erm....like cockroaches, almost impossible to kill. So I can see the plastic killing off the top layer of actual plants, but what about the seeds brought up by tilling? That's really my main concern.
Time, patience and hard work! Use the black plastic. The heat created under the plastic will cook many of the seeds to death. Years ago I moved from Seattle to San Jose and was amazed at what I had previously only grown as house plants could now be put in the yard. Even more so where you are. Just consider it a long term project and tackle one area at a time. Play with some of the "tropicals". I threw out a small wandering Jew under a bush of some sort. It grew just out to the shade line of the bush, put up stalks about a foot tall and bloomed! Three tiny white flowers at the top of each stalk. It had never bloomed for me in the house. Coleus with leaves 5/6 inches across and so on. I don't know where in Canada you were, but now you are in Plant Heaven - ENJOY! This forum will give you lots of help and idea's. ;))) barb
Like Barbara says, the heat under the black plastic (and that's why I specified black) will roast most of the seeds. This is what I do whenever I end up in a new garden that's got weed heaven - and I'm several zones more tropical than you are, so imagine how many weeds I have to contend with!
