Weeds in My Garden

by Janet
(Pennsville, NJ - USA)

What is the best way to keep your vegetable garden weedless? I love to garden but I am holding down three jobs! HELP!



ANSWER:

There are a couple of ways that you can minimize weeds in your vegetable garden.

If you have an in-ground garden, add a 3 inch layer of mulch around all of your vegetables. This will really help suppress weeds.

Also, some gardeners put a 3 foot strip of plastic down each row in the garden, and plant their vegetables in holes cut in the plastic. This also keeps out the weeds. The plastic should be covered with a layer of mulch, or it can get too hot and burn your plants on sunny days.

Building a raised bed and filling it with a good garden soil mixture will also make weeding (what little occurs) a much easier task. But you will have to build the raised bed first!


Weed prevention is worth some up-front effort, as it can take a lot of time and energy to deal with a vegetable garden full of weeds.