Weed preventer

[cokerAL]

What does everyone use to keep the down in and around plants

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use mulch. I spread newspaper maybe two to three layers thick, then cover than with wheat straw or aged wood chips to hold it in place and help keep it moist.

I avoid the slick glossy newspaper and the sheets with the bright colored photos that take up most of the page. The slick glossy ones are a little harder for the rainwater to soak through. I don’t know what chemicals might be in those bright colors so I avoid the worst of them.

Mulch of about any kind makes it a lot better as long as they decompose over the course of the season. They regulate how hot the soil gets and keep moisture in and more stable. When they decompose they add nutrients and improve soil tilth or texture. Even if they don’t totally stop all weeds from sprouting and growing, mulch makes it a lot easier to pull them.

 

[chocbantamorps]

I use grass clippings from my lawn. The clippings keep many weeds from sprouting, reduce the moisture evaporating from the soil so you don't have to water it as often, the nutrients go down into the soil and enrich it, and the worms eat it and deposit their castings which are rich in more nutrients. See the following blog titled "my lawn is my garden's best friend" (URL is http://squarefootabundance.com/my-lawn-is-my-gardens-best-friend/) which goes into more details on how to spread the grass clippings. Have fun gardening.

 

[Daisy8s]

I lay down cardboard, boxboard, newspaper, or paper grocery sacks and then pile straw on top. This has worked perfectly in my big garden beds...every spring I simply add another layer in any problem spots where weeds are poking through and then re-straw the whole patch before planting.

In my smaller raised beds I use lawn clippings in the spring and summer. In the fall I bury every bed in 4-5 inches of leaves so that there's already a good layer of mulch before I plant in the spring.

I have a no-till garden. I attempt to plant in patches (rows or holes) while leaving the rest of the soil undisturbed. My goal is to never have bare dirt exposed since you don't see bare dirt in nature. I like my beds to look as covered in leaf litter as the forest floor.

After several years of this the mulch has built up and is easy to maintain so that a little hand weeding here and there is all that is required.