Weeds in the garden

[lilly41]

Hello ladies/gents

How to you stop the weeds growing in the garden? I'm just sick and tired pulling them out all the time .I was thinking putting some wood chip or some sugar cane ?

[WildChild]

Garden fabric. Lets in the water and air really slows down the weeds

[sunsetrose]

Using mulch helps a lot...

[WildChild]

Companion planting can help sometimes and in area where there isn't anything else growing , pour vinegar after you pull the weed, it will often stop it coming back if there are any bits of root you didn't get. Boiling water can help with that too. Making raised beds can eliminate a lot of weeding and make it easier to do.

[KMonte85]

One trick that helped me is to lay a layer wet newspapers about 4 pages thick down between the plants and then cover with a layer of mulch. Weeds can't get through the newspaper, and the newspaper keeps plant roots cooler in hot weather and warmer in cool weather. It also retains moisture and slows down evaporation so you don't have to water as much.

I've done the garden fabric thing and the weeds come right up through them. Although, I bought the cheaper stuff...

[WildChild]

I inheirited a flower bed that was mostly spring bulbs and tons of weeds, it was driving me nuts. A neighbor who is a landscaper and had a slow work week, removed all the mulch, got up the weeds and put down the fabric that I had and then replaced the mulch. I felt a little guilty because I thought it was a waste of the bulbs. But come this past spring, at least half of them cut right through the fabric and came up. A few weeds made it but really not as many I thought would.

I've tried the newspaper in a garden but was living in an insanely high wind area and just couldn't keep enough mulch on it to hold it in place. The weeds grew up under it, pushed it up and the wind took it away. In areas without so much wind it should work and would certainly be les expensive than the fabric. Another thing I learned is than uncomposted chicken manure makes poor garden material unless you want to grow chicken scratch!