Reclaiming/Preparing for planting

is after a really good soaking rain. The ground is soft and the weeds' roots come right up. I take my garden fork and fork out the weeds. Then you put down a deep layer of mulch, like three inches or more, to discourage future weeds. But the mulch has to be pretty deep. Check and see if there is a tree cutting service in your area that will leave you their chippings for free. Around here the tree guys will drive up with a dump truck of mulch and put as much as you want on your driveway for free.

My DH likes to put down that weed barrier plastic stuff, but I hate it. I really don't want to go in afterwards and cut holes in it to put in new plantings.
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"If you want yor children to be bright, read them fairytales-- if you want them to be brilliant, read them even more fairytales" Albert Einstein

Does the mulch do basically the same thing as the plastic weed barriers? I've never really used it, though I did put the plastic weed barrier down in my vegetable garden (it's wonderful there--starting from scratch and planting in rows anyway). The front flowerbeds already have plants in them, though, so I'm worried that if I put that kind of weed barrier down there I'll smother something. Plus, it's a pain to try to fit it around existing plants.

I think we're supposed to get some rain later this week. Maybe after that will be a good time to tackle those beds. I keep going out, looking at them, getting discouraged, and deciding to do it later.

I finally started in on my overgrown front flowerbeds. This is absolutely the worst crabgrass I've ever seen! I never should've let it get so out of hand last summer. The roots are huge and go everywhere, and I'm pulling them up with brute force and a weeder. I feel like I'm trying to pull up some kind of strange octopus--and it's hanging on for dear life! Anhata, you're right about it being easier to weed after a rain, though. I don't think I could pull these things up if the ground wasn't soft. Ugh. Thanks for all the info on mulch, too--sounds like maybe that's what I need to keep this stuff from coming back.

On the bright side, I complained about the holly bushes I never liked, and my husband immediately went outside and attacked them with a shovel. I'll haul them away tomorrow.

In the town in CA where I grew up (Lompoc) some people had given up the fight and their entire lawn was crab grass. It was the nastiest stuff to walk on. They're sneaky, too with those runners. Mulch *should* keep them from getting another toe hold. I forgot to mention that mulches also prevent erosion.

One of my friends mulches with cotton seed hulls. You don't have to put them down so thick--1-2 inches. And they look kinda cool. If you live in a real windy spot though, they might blow away.

And shredded cedar mulch is really good. See Gardening Tips by John Begeman
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"If you want yor children to be bright, read them fairytales-- if you want them to be brilliant, read them even more fairytales" Albert Einstein

...but last summer it got so bad the crabgrass was actually sending runners up and trying to take over my porch! By that time it was really too late to get rid of it that season without drastic measures (or I thought so, anyway). I wanted to try some of the pre-emergent crabgrass preventer in my yard this year, but unfortunately we also need to put down grass seed to cover some bare spots where they tore up the yard trying to fix the well, so I can't. Oh well. Maybe next year I can try it. This year I guess I'll just have to tear it out by hand. I think the pre-emergent stuff wouldn't have done the trick on this nasty stuff anyway since the roots I'm pulling up are already sending up shoots.

I have not had a lawn of my own ever, just lived with my parents who did all that stuff; so I don't know about these things. What makes crab grass evil? Is it poisonous? Dangerous? To whom-- dogs? Birds? Does it look different from other grass in a way that is ugly? Is the problem that it is non-native to the US? If so, what makes it different from other non-native grass, or are you supposed to keep only native grass on your lawn?

I have the idea that it is unhealthy for cows and horses to eat, but I don't really understand why it is bad if one does not have cows and horses.

But my main problems with it are that it's insidious and apparently insatiable. It sends out these awful runners that root in the ground every so often and climb over anything in its way if you let it (which I did last summer). My daylilies were lost under a mass of crabgrass. It's also pretty difficult to tear out once it gets established (as I noticed last summer and have definitely noticed again now). It's kind of like kudzu for your lawn and garden, really. I don't know if it's unhealthy for livestock or anything else--mostly it just seems to be a pain in the butt. Best to get rid of it ASAP, before it eats your garden.

So the problem is if you want to have something besides grass on your lawn, like if you want a garden. Or if you have a lawn which connects to your neighbors' lawns and the neighbors have things they want to grow. Is that right?

If it is not controlled all your fine, soft grass will be choked out by the sharp-edged, rough, ugly crab grass. It will run roughshod over your flowerbeds, your lawn, and as Sparrow mentioned, try to take over such places as your porch or patios. It is not to be tolerated in the yard or garden. It is to be terminated on sight.
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"If you want yor children to be bright, read them fairytales-- if you want them to be brilliant, read them even more fairytales" Albert Einstein

I just remembered that the March/April issue of Natural Home & Garden has a whole article on getting rid of weeds in your yard without using chemicals that alter your chromosomes or cause cancerous lesions.

Homemade weed killers:
Boiling water (use a teakettle)
Vinegar

Store-bought killers:
Corn gluten meal
Sprays: St. Gabriel weed and grass killer, Planet Natural's herbicidal soap, and Planet Natural's natural weed killer.

I'm afraid to say anthing more for fear of copy right infringement, if you'd like the details you can check out the magazine article in your library or bookstore. It's called "Whacking Weeds" pg 80-82.
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"If you want yor children to be bright, read them fairytales-- if you want them to be brilliant, read them even more fairytales" Albert Einstein

I tried the boiling water trick the other day on some weeds in my front walk. (It's the kind that's pieced together of individual stones, and weeds always seem to pop up between them.) It worked pretty well! Haven't tried vinegar yet, but that's also a thought. I haven't had that much luck with herbicidal soap on my indoor plants, though. Have you tried any of the others?

Thanks for the info!

I guess what is confusing me is that people talk about crabgrass as if it were immoral. Like growing poison mushrooms or something. Is it wrong? Or is it just that it is rough and ugly?

a weed that takes over and strangles the life out of the things you're trying to grow may safely be considered devil's spawn! I don't know what 'crabgrass' specifically looks like, but there are voracious weeds the world over, and evil is usually one fo the milder descriptions used by anyone trying to cultivate.

whatever it is, it ain't grass!

if it were a person trying to take over the world and strangle the lifeblood out of all the other people around it one would definitely be able to call it immoral. Or Osama. As a plant it's kind of a grey area I guess, seeing as how plants don't apparently have morals that we've yet discovered. I guess it could politely be termed 'a survivor'!

Kerri.