skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Weedless Vegetable Gardening
I don't know about some of you, but one of the worst things I hated about vegetable gardening was weeding it every few days. I can remember as a kid my mother and dad had me out in our garden with a hoe and I usually spent several hours at it. Was rough on the back and the legs. Well, I had to devise a way that I wouldn't have to do that now, as I can't due to my hips. So even if you're healthy and active, this keeps your time out of the garden weeding and to where you can be doing other things.I think one of the best inventions they ever came up with was ground cloth! Isn't it great how it works to keep weeds out of your perennial flower beds! I've taken that one step farther and applied it to my vegetable garden. Now you're going to have to use your imagination a bit, as I don't have tomato's and beans or corn this time of year to give you an actual demonstration. And some of you may already be doing this, I'm sure I'm NOT the first to devise it. First: Your ground cloth. Be sure and get the good type that actually feels like cloth. It holds up much better than the new paper grade type they've come out with. I tried that paper type around my rose bushes and it didn't work well at all.You're ground cloth should be black on both sides.It will come in a roll and if you have a Freds dollar store, Family dollar store, Big lots you can get it for about $4.00 per 50 foot roll. It can also be found at Lowe's Home Improvement, Home Depot or Wal-Mart, but will be more expensive there.
Next you'll need ground cloth staples, the only place I've found these, and they can be reused is at Lowe's and Home Depot. Hopefully Wal Mart will start carrying them this year.
These I painted orange so you could see them better, they're just like a big staple and can be found usually outside in the garden center of Lowes or Home Depot.You'll need to plow or till or shovel the area you want your garden to be in, I till an area about 3 feet wide, then take my rake and mound the dirt in the center from both sides of the mound
That may be a bit hard to see, but its a mound of dirt about 6 to 8 inches high done in a row. I've found most garden plants do better with mounded dirt like this, if you have a hard rain, it stops the roots from sitting in water, it also keeps the soil from packing as much.Next take your ground cloth and place it on top of the row you've made. Taking your ground cloth staples and pushing them through the cloth and into the ground to hold it. Then you can unroll you cloth down your entire row. placing staples on each side of the mound all the way down.
After you get this done, you'll have a row of mounded earth covered with cloth. For tomato's or any plant you buy in a young plant, cut a slit in the cloth with a pair of scissors and plant the plant.
Now this is where you have to use your imagination, I had to use camellia stems as tomato's but you can see by the picture what to do. After the plant is in the ground, you can take your tomato stake and place beside the plant. Then go on to the next plant, follow the same step. Tomato's need to be about 3 feet apart.
That was doing single plants you've bought. Doing seeds that are put into the ground directly is a bit different. After you've planted the row of seeds, whether it be beans, peas or corn, when the plants have come up. Take your ground cloth and run down the entire row laying the cloth genteelly on top. Take your scissors and make a cut completely down the row in the center of the cloth. Then take each side of the cloth and put the plant through the slit. 
I then take a household stapler and occasionally where there's space between the plants, staple the two sides together. When you get through, your row will look something like this:
Using ground cloth this way really makes it easy to have a vegetable garden, and you can alternate ways of doing this however you'd like to... Hope this gives some of you ideas on how to do Vegetable gardening the easy way!
Next you'll need ground cloth staples, the only place I've found these, and they can be reused is at Lowe's and Home Depot. Hopefully Wal Mart will start carrying them this year.
These I painted orange so you could see them better, they're just like a big staple and can be found usually outside in the garden center of Lowes or Home Depot.You'll need to plow or till or shovel the area you want your garden to be in, I till an area about 3 feet wide, then take my rake and mound the dirt in the center from both sides of the mound
That may be a bit hard to see, but its a mound of dirt about 6 to 8 inches high done in a row. I've found most garden plants do better with mounded dirt like this, if you have a hard rain, it stops the roots from sitting in water, it also keeps the soil from packing as much.Next take your ground cloth and place it on top of the row you've made. Taking your ground cloth staples and pushing them through the cloth and into the ground to hold it. Then you can unroll you cloth down your entire row. placing staples on each side of the mound all the way down.
After you get this done, you'll have a row of mounded earth covered with cloth. For tomato's or any plant you buy in a young plant, cut a slit in the cloth with a pair of scissors and plant the plant.
Now this is where you have to use your imagination, I had to use camellia stems as tomato's but you can see by the picture what to do. After the plant is in the ground, you can take your tomato stake and place beside the plant. Then go on to the next plant, follow the same step. Tomato's need to be about 3 feet apart.
That was doing single plants you've bought. Doing seeds that are put into the ground directly is a bit different. After you've planted the row of seeds, whether it be beans, peas or corn, when the plants have come up. Take your ground cloth and run down the entire row laying the cloth genteelly on top. Take your scissors and make a cut completely down the row in the center of the cloth. Then take each side of the cloth and put the plant through the slit. 
I then take a household stapler and occasionally where there's space between the plants, staple the two sides together. When you get through, your row will look something like this:
Using ground cloth this way really makes it easy to have a vegetable garden, and you can alternate ways of doing this however you'd like to... Hope this gives some of you ideas on how to do Vegetable gardening the easy way!
No comments:
Post a Comment