It's good you're using old manure though, if by old you mean composted. Uncomposted or raw manure has weed seeds that will take over your beds if you use it. A friend of mine made that mistake and she said she got the worst kinds of weeds and it took two years to get them all out of the flower beds!

Do you have roses? Roses LOVE manure. I read somewhere that you're supposed to apply it in fall since the dormant months are when they do their root growth.

There's a V-Shaped Scraper weeder that works wonderfully, I'm tring to find out where they sell them around here. I've seen it in action and it clears away the weedlings roots and all. A quick Internet search yeilded this picture. Don't have time to add it to TNH reviews at this moment.

Anhata
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