Things are a little quieter around here — as long as I tune out the wind that's howling outside as I write. Nearly every plant that isn't evergreen has died back for the winter, so it may seem like the perfect time to hunker down in the house, sit down with a cup of hot tea and the latest seed catalog, and wait for the warmer weather to return. In fact, it's the best time to do some winter prep for garden health and productivity in the coming year.
In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, "in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes." I'd like to recommend one more addition to those certainties: weeds. Most of the work I've been doing lately and will continue doing in the coming weeks will help with managing weeds in the garden moving forward — and we really need the help. We've had a major problem for the last couple of years, thanks to one weed in particular: Phyllanthus urinaria, which is itself an unpleasant name, but I find one of its common names, gripeweed, especially apt. This weed has colonized nearly every bit of cultivated soil on our property and brought me to my knees by the end of each season, but I'm determined to eradicate it with organic approaches.
If you've ever wondered what to do about weeds, I've been testing out some methods. The first line of defense is simply to pull as many weeds as possible as they're coming up, and it's really important to get to them before they set seeds. But sometimes the problem is simply too extensive. In the case of gripeweed, the undersides of the leaves are covered in seed pods that explode — the perfect vehicle for spraying seeds far and wide and ensuring quick and thick coverage.
Trying to keep up with the gripeweed in the pool garden last year was utterly demoralizing. It seemed as if every time I cleared a square-foot section, the ground was covered again within days. While mulching heavily often works well to stifle weeds, that's not always the case, and
gripeweed seems impervious to mulch. So early this spring, I decided to double down — literally. We covered the entire second tier of the garden with cardboard we had saved over the winter. Then we added a three-inch layer of compost on top. That proved to be a powerful combination. It cut our weeding efforts this summer almost down to nothing. We've decided to repeat that process each spring for the next few years, and we'll extend the same coverage to the lower tier this winter. Ultimately, we've found the best way to prevent weeds is to take a multi-pronged approach.
The vegetable garden is another beast altogether. We spent 30 minutes every day for the last few weeks pulling all of the weeds from the paths. That, unfortunately, is step one of our new process. The next step will be to shovel up the gravel in sections and sift it to remove the dirt and weed seeds that have accumulated over the years. We'll also have to sweep the weed barrier clean of debris before we rake the gravel back in place. That will take at least two months, but we're hopeful we'll turn the tide in the weed war.
We've also pulled the weeds in the raised beds we haven't renovated yet, which is just under half of them. Then we added cardboard and a thick pile of mowed leaves on top. I tried laying
black plastic on one of the beds in August to solarize the soil and kill the weeds. It's an approach that worked in our Orlando garden, but here, it just attracted every fire ant in the county, so I've crossed it off the list of options. I've also used my flame weeder, but it requires a lot of time, and I'm forever worried I'll burn everything down. The cardboard and compost/leaf approach, combined with regular weeding seems to be the method we'll be going with in most of the gardens next year.
It will be interesting to see how much progress we can make—and just how magnificent the gardens will be as a result. It's something I'm really looking forward to.
So, what winter prep are you doing to get your garden ready? I'd love to hear about it!
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