How to Keep Weeds Away For a Long Time

Weeds can suck the life right out of your gardening pleasure. Preventing their intrusion in the first place is the best way to keep these uninvited guests from showing up in your yard.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Newspaper - lots of it
• A good weeding stick (digger)
• Time
• Soil test kit
• Mulch - can be compost, barkdust, whatever you want to use.

1. Work with a small, limited space at one time. Take your digger and thoroughly remove any weeds and their offending roots.
2. Use your soil test kit to check the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. If you don't have one, look to see what kinds of weeds you just pulled up. According to 1,001 Garden Secrets by Gail K. Wood, Dandelions, dock, horsetail, lathy's thumb, and sorrel adore acidic soil. As a general rule, ironweed, pennycress, peppergrass, sagebrush, and woody aster flock to alkaline soil. If you have a hydrangea in the bed, what color are the flowers? Blue indicate acid soil, and pink mean alkaline soil. slightly puple blooms indicate your soil is in just the right range to grow most of the plants you would want to put in the bed.
3. If your soil is too acidic or too alkaline for what you want to plant, then you need to amend it. It's best to make a habit of adding good old fashioned homemade compost yearly to the bed, however, your soil may need more improving than regular composting can offer in a timely manner. For acid soil, add some lime (available at garden centers.) The lime will not only reduce the acidity, but will also provide needed nutrients for the plant. If the soil is too alkaline, you will want to add something to generate a little bit of acidity. Pine needles work well this way. Also, you can simply add a little bit of vinegar mixes in the water to specific plants.
4. Once your soil is just the way you want it, place thick layers of newspaper (NOT THE GLOSSY COLOR SECTIONS - TOXIC!) on the top of the soil, and then immediately cover that with whatever mulch you have chosen. I have used barkdust on flowerbeds, and leaf mulch on my veggie beds. When you want to plant something, just scrape back the mulch, cut a slit in the newspaper, and plant. Put the mulch back in place when finished. If you are working aruond existing plants, newspaper is easily folded or cut to fit around the plants.

Tips & Warnings

• You'll find you rarely have to weed.
• Your soil will retain water much better than before, resulting in a need to water less often.
• Weeds just won't come up through all that newspaper. Even if there are still runners or seeds in the soil, the newspaper serves to smother them.
• This only works is you take the time to really clean up the bed as best as possible. You'll only have to do this once, though!
• Really, if you want your plants to thrive with as little attention as possible, take the time to check your soil and be sure the ph falls into the levels you need for your garden.