I'm tired of weeding.....and it's only the first of June.

[bluesman423]

This is one of the reasons that most of my garden is in containers this year. And all of it will be next year. I don't grow everything, potatoes and corn come to mind, but am trying to find a way to grow them efficiently in containers also.

Very little weeding, complete soil and water control. Plus the pest seems to be less of a problem. Easy to move conatiners for shade or other issues.

It costs more in the beginning but it is worth it to me.

[Blackdog Lin]

A little update:

herbgeek: thank you for the collineal hoe suggestion! I was iffy on the whole "buy a new tool and it will make your life immediately better" suggestion.....but by golly, the darn thing works! This morning was my first try with the hoe, and I can see already that it reduces my stooping-and-bending by 50% or more. It doesn't cut ALL of what I need it to (grasses: Johnson and Bermuda), but I had a fine time cutting small weedy-sons-a-bitches and small strangler-vines. Easy to get between the okra plants, and around the peppers.

Thank you for the suggestion. So far, the hoe appears to be worth every penny I spent on it.....

[herbgeek]

Glad I could help.

I'm also reluctant to buy new tools, so I understand.

[TMC]

My list of weeds in our garden in Kansas:

- thorny sons-a-bitches
- the giant onion-looking things, but with red bottoms (PULL them up, Lin, they're WEEDS, even though they look like onions!)
- strangler vine. I just realized this year (because this is the first year I've ever really gotten out there and taken care of things) that all those innocent-looking little individual weedy-plants are really horrific strangler vines in miniature.
- wire grass (DH has told me what it is, but I forget. Bermuda? Crab grass?) It's 25% of our lawn, but who cares, we can mow it off on the lawn. It's just when it gets into the garden and my flower gardens that I get PO'd about it.
- those other less-thorny sons-a-bitches. They're not quite as bad, or prolific, as thorny sons-a-bitches.

So I don't know my weeds.

I know what we deal with every year; and I have a hard time imagining mulching the entire garden - we do mulch the tomatoes and pepper plants. Doable, yes. Do I want to plan to mulch the entire garden next year? No. I can't figure out how to control weeds, in a largish but not too large, garden in Kansas.

But since my back is killing me, I have taken herbgeek's advice, and tonight ordered the colineal hoe, from the website recommended. I didn't even check prices or recommendations, I just ordered the damn thing. herbgeek: thank you. I'll let you know if it helps.....

You have the same weeds I do where I live!

I'm always fascinated at people who know the names of their weeds, I just know they don't belong there, must be a weed. Hate the thorny son of bitch ones!

[Gardenarian]

Have you tried a flame weeder? It can really save your back. I just use a cheap little propane torch.
I also plant very densely so there is little room for the weeds to grow.

[Blackdog Lin]

Gardenarian: tell me more. I am unfortunately yoked to a DH who thinks ANYTHING that can go up in flames, or blow up, is a good thing, so your suggestion is intriguing. We have propane canisters. I have a garden that I am committed to taking care of this year. Might DH and I get together with the garden and the propane canisters and blow up weeds toward a productive garden?

Seriously, tell me more about your method. It sounds like something I might be able to get DH onboard with.....

[Gardenarian]

Well, there are a few different ways to use torches. Some people have the big industrial set up and plow through their beds torching everything before they seed. A lot of people use the torches you can find at hardware stores (Red Dragon is a popular brand) for getting rid of weeds on their garden paths, between pavers, etc. They kill the plants by heating them up until the cells explode (you don't actually torch them until they burn - just until they wilt.)

I don't have a lot of weeds IN my beds (dense planting and lots of straw) but I do have invasive plants trying to take over my entire yard (blackberries, broom, periwinkle, English ivy) and the torch is very effective on them. (The blackberries are going to take over the world, though.) I haven't tried using this method on weeds growing right next to plants I want to keep - could be tricky.

To search for more information, they are called weed flamers, flame weeders, weed burners, and weed torches.

Here are some at Amazon.

I just use a torch head similar to this one that fits onto the end of a small propane tank.

Hope this helps!

[Blackdog Lin]

Thank you! I'm off to do some research.....