Need Ideas to clear several beds of invading plants

[_ktg_]

I am in the process of clearing several of my flower beds which have been taken over by raspberry, goldenrod and crabgrass and thistle.  These 3 offenders have sprouted up since I have begun the difficult task of removing a good number of shrubs and other plants from my property because they were extremely thorny ( and I have littles) or poisonous but the previous owner of my property thought they looked "Beautiful!"

My dad is a wonderful gardner, but he loves his toxic chemicals and has recommended using "round-up" on everything I don't want to keep.  I need an alternative which would work and remove these buggers and not cause me to have my stomach in a twist over using a product I do not believe in. 

I have been reading about just pouring boiling water over the plants and thought perhaps that along with laying down some weedblock might do the trick.  Unfortunately I would need a lot of boiling water tp hit all the areas.  The areas in question are approximately 6' wide and 30' in length on my north & south sides and get lots of beautiful full sun.

TIA!

[lunita1]

I dig things out with a digging fork in moist (but not wet soil -- in my clay I have to water well and then wait a couple of days) and try to get as much of the roots as possible.   Then lay down a thick layer of mulch to keep them from regrowing. If they're growing in the middle of wanted plants, sometimes this involves also uprooting and replanting desired things.  (if you're pretty sure you're dealing with something aggressive and you haven't gotten the full root mass out the first time, don't replant anything on top right away, since you'll probably have to come back and use your digging fork again to pull out what resprouts... it'll be easier the second time around because the layer of mulch has been resting on top, attracting earthworms to come loosen your soil.)

[Lazy Gardens]

raspberry, crabgrass = No substitute for digging them out by the roots because they can sprout from underground runners. After you get the large plants and think you have it all, water well and stay vigilant for more sprouts.

goldenrod, thistle = Slice them out with a weeding tool, making sure to take out the base of plant below where the leaves come from.

As you clear each section, cover it with several layers of newspaper and something for a thick mulch to keep more weeds from sprouting. You can plant veggies right through the mulch.

[_ktg_]

Thanks!

[BubblingBrooks]

Originally Posted by _ktg_ 

Thanks!

I would also cover the beds with black plastic for a couple of months too. That can help kill off any potential regrowth.

[LaughingHyena]

We have one of these http://www.weeddragon.com/ It has it's limits but I did find it good for clearing large areas of weeds. I gave the weeds themselves a blast of flame, you're not supposed to be burning them right out, just sort of melt them. Apparently the chemicals they release when they do that harm the roots.  Then after digging up all visible signs of the plants I flamed any more that came up. Also in places where there were lots of tiny roots when I was digging I flamed the roots. Big ones I could remove but there were loads of tiny threads which were impossible to get out.

It took a lot of time and work but we did manage to get a large bed in our previous garden free of the weeds that were originally there.

We've now moved and I'm back to clearing beds of weeds, however this house has the gas pipe running round the outside of the house and through several of the beds I need to clear. I'm not going near that with flame! I'm going to try putting down weed membrane and bark chippings over the top. I'll stick some pots over it to look better for now.

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by LaughingHyena 

We have one of these http://www.weeddragon.com/ It has it's limits but I did find it good for clearing large areas of weeds. I gave the weeds themselves a blast of flame, you're not supposed to be burning them right out, just sort of melt them. Apparently the chemicals they release when they do that harm the roots.  Then after digging up all visible signs of the plants I flamed any more that came up. Also in places where there were lots of tiny roots when I was digging I flamed the roots. Big ones I could remove but there were loads of tiny threads which were impossible to get out.

It took a lot of time and work but we did manage to get a large bed in our previous garden free of the weeds that were originally there.

We've now moved and I'm back to clearing beds of weeds, however this house has the gas pipe running round the outside of the house and through several of the beds I need to clear. I'm not going near that with flame! I'm going to try putting down weed membrane and bark chippings over the top. I'll stick some pots over it to look better for now.

hahaha - I love it!  I was just joking with DH about just burning 'em down yesterday given it was such large patches.   It works on the prairies - why not my backyard!

I'm back to hand pulling everything  & weed whacking first anything which has gotten too large (raspberry) so I can get a handle of how much I need to dig out.  I think the plan is clear a bit of the beds at a time, cover them up with weed block & mulch and keep repeating until I am done with everything.

[hikingfortruth]

My mail-woman told me to put newspaper or cardboard down, compost on top then mulch.  The weeds won't come through and the cardbord (not wax covered) or newspaper (non glossy) will decompose.  This improves the soil too. 

[SweetSilver]

I'm assuming you meant "Canada thistle" when you mentioned thistle, and yes that's a poser.  But is it bull thistle?  That one's easy to pop out with a spading (or "digging" fork, sometimes called "potato fork").  

     I'm a big fan of Mulch-and-Wait.  Just lay down the weeds and bury under several layers of cardboard, overlapped well so that no light gets through.  Weigh down.  Part of this method is based off the theory that by cutting plants down, especially vigorous plants, you actually encourage them to put out new growth, and that new growth is more likely to push through the heavy mulch.  The other part of this method is based off the theory that I am the laziest gardener on the planet!  I don't go for fast compost schemes or anything that requires more work than at all possible.  Have a little patience and a give the bed a year.  The raspberries will surely still be there some where, and the crab grass if it's in the adjacent lawn, so you'll still need to weed out some runners when you lift the cardboard off, maybe again before planting.  Still, the work will be easier.  I think suppressing it for a while will give you an edge--and give you the summer to deal with something else!

[hikingfortruth]

I just did this today.  It seems to work really well!