weeds « TopVeg – growing veg,fruit&herbs

April 15, 2009

How to Reduce Weeds in the Vegetable Garden by using a Stale Seed Bed.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: soil, stale seed bed, weed, weeds — TopVeg @ 3:05 pm

A stale seed bed reduces the number of weeds which have to be controlled when the vegetable seedlings start to grow in the garden.

What is a stale seedbed?

A stale seed bed is a seedbed which has been prepared, & given a false start, some weeks before the seed is due to be sown. Any weed seeds in the bed will be encouraged to grow, so that they can be raked out & killed before the actual vegetable crop crop is sown.

weeds-in-stale-seedbed

The advantages of a stale seed bed:

    * the number of weed seeds which have to be controlled, when the vegetable seeds start to grow, is reduced.
    * competition, for light, food, water & space, between the vegetable seedlings & weeds will be reduced, by reducing the number of weeds.
    * there will be a wider window for hand weeding between the egetable plants if there are not many weeds. It is not so crucial to weed them out immediately, which is important for weekend gardeners.
    * the seedbed will be more even, as it has had time to settle down and the moisture will have spread out. Thus germination will be more even.

How to make a stale seedbed:

Before sowing vegetable seeds,

* prepare the seedbed
* encourage weed seed germination by keeping the soil damp, either with rain, or with gentle watering (gentle because do not want to destroy the structure of the seed bed.) Use a very fine rose on the watering can.

shallot-in-polytunnel

    * Do not over-water or the seedbed will become structureless or hard.
    * allow weeds to grow
    * just as weed seedlings are emerging through the soil, gently rake the bed in dry weather, so that the weed seedlings are disturbed and destroyed. Rake when the weeds are at the cotyledon (seed-leaf) stage. Seedlings are vulnerable then, because they are changing from being dependent on the seed for food to becoming reliant on the roots for survival.

rake-weed-seedlings

* do not allow the weeds to get too big because the root system will be well developed and difficult to kill.

stale-seedbed-half-raked

* do not over-rake, or the seed bed will become too fine
* allow a few days for the disturbed weed seedlings to die, then sow the vegetable seed in the normal way.

The stale seed bed system of weed control is only practical on light, sandy soils. It is not recommended for clay soil.

The stale seed bed system will not eliminate weeds completely, but will reduce the number of weeds germinating at the same time as the vegetable seeds.

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March 22, 2009

Weeds in The Vegetable Garden

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: weed, weeding, weeds — TopVeg @ 6:39 am

How to tell a weed from a vegetable plant is a common problem for new gardeners.

The definition of a weed is a plant out of place. So a weed is only a weed if you don’t want it there.

If you have planted a row of vegetable seeds, anything growing out of the row may be classed as a weed. It is therefore important to:

    * be organised
    * mark rows at either end with prominent sticks
    * keep the distance between rows at least the width of your hoe
    * hoe regularly between rows, shallowly, as soon as you see leaves emerging

Watch the vegetable plants within the row. Hopefully your seeds will all
emerge at about the same time, and look similar. Any rogue plants can be
pulled out.

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March 15, 2009

Zero-tolerance approach to Weeds

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: soil, weed, weeding, weeds — TopVeg @ 9:27 pm

The zero-weed policy in the vegetable garden is helped by friable soils
which have not been walked on. These two factors, friability & lack of
compaction, contribute to much easier weeding.

Friability

Our soils were originally difficult, heavy clays, which set like
concrete after a rain. But the addition of sand has helped, by keeping
the clay particles apart.

Adding compost from the heap does help, but an enormous amount of
compost is needed to make any difference on the depth of soil in a
vegetable garden. Sand has been the salvation of our soils.

Lack of compaction

picking-stick-beans

Narrow beds accessed from the walkways keep us off the beds, so we do not tread
the soil down. The beds are just wide enough for all the work to be done
from the edge, so that we do not have to walk on them.

board-protects-soil

The only problem seems to be picking the stick beans from the wigwams. A
walking board has been placed beside the wigwam, to minimise the
compaction caused when picking. Last year we did not use a board (just
trode on the soil), & the soil around the wigwams had been trampled
during picking, so that it was pressed down and very difficult to dig
later on – & difficult to make into a seedbed.

Wide rows.

wide carrot rows

Having enough room between the rows to use hand tools for hoeing & breaking the
soils, makes working easy.

Weed when the weeds are small.

Hitting the weeds before they get too big, & before they have had time
to develop a strong root system, makes it easier, too!

Little & Often Weeding.

Weeding little & often in the vegetable garden makes it less of a chore.
You are more likely to adopt a little & often approach if it is not hard
work &:

    * the soil is friable
    * the soil is not compacted
    * the rows are wide
    * the weeds are small

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February 15, 2009

Dandelions in the Vegetable Garden

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: weeds — TopVeg @ 1:56 pm

Dandelions are:

* weeds

    * timepieces
    * a survival food for bees and other pollinating insects while they
      wait for other flowers to open
    * used to make wine
    * salad leaves

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January 13, 2009

Controlling weeds in the vegetable garden

Filed under: vegetable gardening — Tags: weeds — TopVeg @ 11:57 am

Controlling weeds in the vegetable garden is important at this time of the year when all plants are growing quickly.

small-thistle

Click the links below for more TopVeg weed help:

how to tell weeds from seeds

the need to attack weeds when they are very small

Five minutes with a hoe as you inspect the vegetables each evening has a significant effect.

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Attack the weeds when they are small.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: weeds — TopVeg @ 11:36 am

Attack the weeds in the vegetable garden when they are young and very small.

If small weeds are pulled up, with a hoe or by hand, the fine roots and stems, seen in the photo above,will dry up quickly and the weeds will die.

Weeds are much easier to control when they are small and just starting out. Click on the photo above to enlarge it & see the tiny weed seedlings between the coin & the onion plant.

If the weeds are allowed to grow bigger, as in the photo above, their roots will be deeper and difficult to take out.

Some weeds grow faster than the vegetable which has been planted. The photo below shows a weed which has been allowed to get too big, and it is competing with the onion for light, water and food.

The photo of the thistle and grass weed below, shows how small they are compared to a pound coin.

This is the right time to hoe them out. It is best to attack weeds when they are very small.

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