Practical Weed Control

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Peas, lettuce, and spinach are up and growing by the time I hire someone to till the rest of the garden about three weeks later. There is quite a growth by this time because I left all the weeds that had gotten started from the summer before. The lamb's quarter, ragweed, and pigweed spread many seeds. Dandelion, several kinds of grass, plantain, and other biannual and perennial weeds got a good start and I let them continue. That is what I would have done if I had planted winter rye as a green manure crop. My all-natural green manure crop doesn't look as nice as a planted crop but it serves its purpose at no cost and with no work.

The tilling has seeded the garden to weeds, no question about it. Some of the clumps of grass that were growing will re-root as well. What a mess, some might say. I get to work planting the crops that will germinate in cool soil or transplant those that can stand a light frost. I mulch my walkways. That takes care of the weeds that thought they might sprout there. As I plant, I make note of the dates I worked that patch of soil. I'll be back in ten days to cultivate .

... Followed by the Ten-Day Rule

Ten days after the garden was tilled, I rake the parts that haven't been planted yet. What a weed massacre that is. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, of weeds are put to death. They don't have a chance ten days after they were planted. They are nothing more than a single root going down and a scrawny stem going up. Most people don't even know they are there. You can only see them if you look very closely. The best time to see them is in the early morning when dew clings to them.

If you observe the ten-day rule, you will not be bothered with stem weeds. Don't leave your soil unstirred for more than ten days for the first month after tilling. That is as clear as I can make it. No garden job takes higher priority. When I started market gardening I thought, "If I don't get this stuff planted, I won't get a crop." True, but if I couldn't get the planting to harvest, I wouldn't get a crop either. You can't waste time in a market garden. Planting crops that don't produce is a waste of time. Pulling weeds is also a waste of time. Get them when they are at their most vulnerable and it is an easy job.

The most dramatic example of how well the ten-day rule works occurred the last year I had a market garden. That was the year I began working in earnest on saving the saltwater farm. I got the acre garden planted and cultivated but otherwise neglected it badly. A large plot of carrots was only cultivated once ten days after planting. It had been planted with radish seed mixed with the carrot seed. A month after planting, the radishes were harvested. The patch was not touched again until fall when the carrots were harvested. I would have done more if I had had the time. I wonder how much unnecessary work I do.

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