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How can I start a garden?

Gardening - I want to prepare virgin ground for a garden. Can I start with weed killers? How long will it last?

  • Will the chemicals affect the vegetables? Should I use a tiller and plow the space (there always seem to be roots left behind that will start taking over the garden). Is there any secret to weed control after planting or is just part of my daily duties?

  • Answer:

    What kind of growth is there now? Johnson grass? Pokeweed? Some perennial weeds can be problematic, but usually when I start with virgin soil, there isn't a weed problem, until I start applying stable scrapings... There's something about horse / cow droppings that provide my garden with weeds... even then, the weed problem doesn't really get going until I allow some of them to set seed. If you are trying to put in a garden where you have lawn turf, you will need to dig up the turf... Otherwise, there shouldn't be any need for toxic herbicides unless there's a large stand of perennial weeds like the ones mentioned above. And yes, weed killers affect the crops, and the amphibians like toads, frogs, salamanders... the garden help. There's some question whether they are in part affecting the bees... There have been recent studies showing that round-up affects us in negative ways... It's always best to find an organic solution... once you start applying chemicals, it throws off the garden's balance, and it's much harder for the good critters to solve the gardening woes.

Tony at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Yes the weed killers will kill your plants. that's what they do, kill plants and they do not care if it is a weed or something you planted best thing to do is plow up the area you intend to use for your garden and like the other poster suggests put down mulch, landscape fabric, 10" of leaves or straw, newspapers, anything that will completely cover the ground and keep out light so the weed seeds cannot germinate.

Ohiorganic

I have built gardens over the years but to save yourself from toxifying the ground buy large rolls of landscaping fabric, completely cover the area where you want your garden and leave for a month. No light, high temperatures= no weeds. Ask your garden centre to fine tune this plan. It works.

Philip H

I'm not a fan of weed killers. The fewer chemicals that get anywhere near my food sources, the happier I am. We started out our new garden last year with chickens. A bunch of chickens will eat every living plant in an enclosed area over the course of a few months. They also help to scratch up the ground and add fertilizer. We tilled it after they were done, hand pulling any roots that were visible. The idea that we're working toward is to rotate the chickens between two fenced-in areas and have our garden in the other one each summer. The chicken coop is centered between them with a door leading into each. We simply close off the one that we don't want them to go through. It was based on the idea at a link that I'm including here. You can also start out your first year using bags of topsoil (links below). The weeds under the bags are killed off by the bags themselves and by any mulch that you add. I used this method the first summer that we were at our house because there was no garden area worked up, and it worked just fine.

DJ

Yes you can start with weed killers - and you can use mulch to stop the unwanted weeds from growing. Landscape mulch reduces weed growth Hope it is a help http://www.rubberecycle.com/landscape.asp

Marker

The weed killer will kill a lot of the plants that your putting in. Been there! Done that! Use an old sheet and put down after tilling, or go to the expense of garden cloth. The sheet is cheaper and works well. You will need to put a Chris cross holes where your putting in the veggies. Then cover with mulch or hay. My tomatoes love things this way. Eventually the wind may blow a few weed seeds near by, but pull them up asap. Hope this helps.

windgate

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