VEGETABLE Self-Sufficiency

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Weeding: The 10-Day Rules

All but the row that will be getting succession plantings of beans have been planted. The job was done in less than a day. You should get a great night's sleep and your body should not feel too much the worse for wear the next morning. You don't have to do anything else to this garden for 10 days. If you are going to use mulch to improved soil texture, control weeds, add fertility, and retard the evaporation of water from the soil surface; you can begin applying it. Coarse material like hay or straw can be applied to the walkways and around the zucchini and cucumbers. You will be able to see where you planted because of the firmed soil. You can also mulch around the tomato plants. All of this mulch should be about six inches thick. If you are using baled hay or straw, it peels off in books that can be dropped just as they are. If the material is loose and fluffy, it should be more thickly applied.

The 10- day rule is one that you should make every effort to obey. Whenever you plant, mark your calendar to cultivate in 10 days. It can be done a couple of days earlier or a day later if the weather or your schedule demand it, but don't let it go longer unless you like to make extra work for yourself. Remember, you killed all the weeds that had started growing before you planted. But your planting disturbed the soil and brought a new batch of weed seeds close enough to the surface for them to sprout. A light surface hoeing just barely disturbing the top half inch of soil will again kill thousands of weeds when they are at their most vulnerable. These seedlings will not be able to reroot nor will they resist the hoe. It is like slicing butter. Every day after 10 the weeds will be spreading roots and their stems will become stronger. More mature weeds can cling to enough soil to keep on growing even when pulled up by the hoe, or the roots may hold on against the hoe leaving a viable plant behind.

Controlling weeds that have gotten a hold requires more vigorous work with the hoe-good exercise for the stomach, chest, and arm muscles if that's what you are looking for. You will also spend more time pulling weeds.

Mark your calendar for another 10 days. The radishes and the onions are up by now, marking those rows. I like to mulch these crops with grass clippings, whereas the potatoes seem to do better with leaves. Mulching with leaves requires a calm day so they don't blow around, however. I cover them with enough of another mulch to keep them from taking flight. If everything is mulched by the end of the second 10-day period, weed control is essentially done. If not, cultivate the unmulched areas.

I say essentially because there will inevitably be some weeds that have escaped our diligence. There are only two crops that might suffer from weed competition.

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