Why not just lay black plastic over the entire area (like at garden centers/nurseries) and cut holes for your plants. This will keep all the weeds out, though there might be a few around your plant, these will be much easier to pull. You can then add your drip line and mulch over top if you like.

Your order seems reasonable, yes. But it sounds like you are planning to do all the soil preparation at once. Now, that may be best for you but I have another suggestion. Why don't you sit down and figure out what has to go in first and work on that part of your plot. Then the next round. Then the next, so you won't be overwhelmed. That's a lot of garden space!

My first to go out in the "garden proper", not early stuff like lettuce and onions that I have in containers, will be my tomatoes. I can't set out my peppers at the same time since they're more tender, so I won't work on that part of my soil until after my tomatoes are out. Then lots of row space for beans, and finally the okra, melons, and Southern peas, which I'll plant last, as well as a few more things in containers on the deck, two New Big Dwarf tomato plants started later, and my zucchini in hopes of avoiding cucumber beetles and SVBs.

If this kind of approach doesn't work for you and you'd rather do everything before you set out or plant anything, you'd probably need to work your plot in sections, maybe four 10' x 30' sections, one at a time.

And in case you need to be reminded, take it easy. Rome wasn't built in a day, they say. Get a friend or a relative or a teenager to come help you with some of the chores that are hard on your back.

The weeds. I assume this is what seems to be the most overwhelming since many of your efforts are aimed toward fighting them. If you have enough space between the rows, take a weedwacker to them if you have to give up on pulling them this year. Then solarize the whole area over the winter!

And accept that you WILL have some weeds, no matter what you do. I had to give up on eradicating bindweed entirely and have about decided that if I can just keep it from strangling what I plant, I'll keep pulling them and cutting them down.

We need a thread on creative ways to gain victory over pestiferous, invasive, noxious weeds!

anney, thanks for that, it does help to break it down section by section...more manageable...interestingly enough, I actually used the extra timbers I had to make 4 sections :)

I guess I may also be over exaggerating my "current" weed issues, but it was a mess with the bermuda last year and I'm just trying very hard to be preemptive here and do whatever I can to cut it off at the pass. And I had way too many tom's in this space, and I did kinda what you are suggesting (planting first, then prep next) it did not work well for me, as my tomatoes took off and before I knew it they were too tall and were NOT staked, and we had several good rains over a few week period, so I DID NOT put out the drip lines, then by the time I needed it, it was a tomatoe jungle out there, UGH...80 plants all sprawling, not a pretty picture.

I posted on another thread the question about using black plastic vs landscape weed fabric, and it seems that most (not all) think that it is better to use the fabric vs the plastic. I guess due to how hot we get here, it would cook? the roots...

I will try to take it day by day and do what I can each day. And will remember Rome ;)

If you tilled it...it will probably be back.

The tilling brings some of the rhizomes (underground "root-like" parts of the grass) to the surface and it pretty much kills the plant, but it also breaks up a good amount of the rhizomes and each rhizome segment can form a new grass plant. Not every rhizome piece makes it to the surface...a good amount start new plants.

That said, tilling isn't a horrible way to deal with bermuda grass season-to-season, but it won't end it. It's some tough stuff to totally eradicate from any large hunk of soil.

I am with you, I hate that Bermuda grass!

Working in sections is the easiest and most organized way to do it. You can further break it down to crops. Work up a space, plant corn; work a space, plant tomatoes in next row, then on to plant squash in opposite end of section. You don't have to do the whole thing at once.

As for the weeds, especially the Bermuda grass, there are remedies out there. For grass, there is Ornamec, a chemical which can be sprayed on the grass to kill it, but it will not harm your plants. As long as you are not spraying it on the fruit, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't spray it on or around peppers or tomatoes when they have set fruit.

You may have to spray it more than once, but it will kill it.

You might want to treat the unworked areas with RoundUp while they are awaiting the time that you have time and energy to work in them. Just don't cultivate the soil and chop the bermuda into pieces. Every node will become a new plant.

Another thing that surprised me was the mention of 80 tomato plants. How many people are you gardening for? Is this a truck farm? Goodness! that is a lot of tomato plants!

I just have me and DH, and friends and neighbors to share with, and I have 20 plants, of several different varieties. I like to have plenty to give away, but I have to be able to take care of them. Maybe if you want to can or freeze them for the tomato-less times, you could grow a few determinate vines, where all the produce comes at once, and a few indeterminate vines for table use and to give away. The indeterminate vines will just go on and on making tomatoes until night temps get so hot that they won't set fruit any longer.

You could install 3 metal fence posts and string some re-inforcement wire on them to make a trellis for the tomatoes. Plant the tomatoes along the trellis, and it is easy to come along and tie them up as they grow. Much easier than tomato cages, and less expensive. Next year, grow beans in this spot. Or cucumbers...

An absence of light will help you stay free of weeds, so if you lay thick layers of wet newspaper, and cover it with a thick layer of mulch, it will help you a lot in your maintenance work. I used to mulch my pathways, but now I just use a weed whacker on the pathways. I save my energy for the growing areas.

Don't forget to throw a few flower seeds in your garden, too. Maybe some cosmos or some zinnia. Nothing nicer than having pretty flowers to cut for the table. I have Laura Bush petunias in my herb bed, and they reseed every year. It is so easy when they do the work for you.

I wish you much luck in your garden, and endless fun and enjoyment. That is what a vegetable garden is supposed to be, I think. Work, yes, but so much satisfaction!

Janie

Janie,
I'm very interested in knowing more about your experience with Ornamec, I had recently posted on the weed forum this very question, to see if anyone had first hand experience with it and bermuda etc. I researched online and found both Ornamec and Ornamec 170 which is premixed with the surfacant, where I think you have to add something with the reg. Ornamec?

Ya, 80 plants, it was a lot, I have a freezer full of tom's though and gave a lot away. believe it or not it's just DH and me :) I love tomatoes and so does he, we cook with them alot. I went on a mission to find heirloom varieties and was pleasantly surprised (at least with the selection I found. I ended up planting 13 different varieties. To tell you the truth, I had a very strange season too...they put out early and then we got a bunch of rain off and on, and they stopped. I was picking a 5 gallon bucket about every 5 to 7 days. then nothing!!

I will DEFINITELY put up a support for the tomatoes before they go in the ground, no exceptions. I've gone the complete oppposite this year...I'm planting Amelia and that is all. I may (or not) get a few others, we will see. I was happy with the Amelia's and they were the healthiest plants I had last year.

Ornamec is great, especially in flowerbeds! I spray it right over my roses, hibiscus, daisies, whatever is in the area. It will not hurt anything except grass. There is a long list that comes with the bottle that will tell you what is immune.

That does include all kinds of grass, however, so be aware that you can take out a portion of your lawn.....

Ornamec 170, I have not used. If you want, you can add a few drops of dish detergent to the regular, mix-it-yourself stuff, to act as a surfactant. The pre-mixed is usually much more effective than that you mix yourself. I don't know why.

It does take some time, but don't give up. It will kill it. I have been known to spray a second time...I do get impatient.

We eat tomatoes until we both have a peculiar 'glow', then I have to start putting them on people's porches in the dark of night. I always hate it when the vines quit producing.

Janie

BTW, here are some pics of the space...This picture was taken at about 9am, the shade is from my greenhouse which is East of this spot, it is gone by mid day...next thing I guess is to figure out where to put what :)

Thanks for all the suggestions/support

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Great space! Great pictures!

The first thing I would do in this space is to set a few pathways. I know you might think they are a waste of valuable real estate, but they will save your garden in the long run. You can lay WET newspaper in thick layers, and cover with mulch- leaves make a good mulch for pathways. Make a pathway wide enough to get a wheel barrow in there, and make them obivious paths.

What happens in this case is that you walk on the pathways only. You never walk in your planting beds, therefore the planting beds don't get compacted, and therefore they never need tilling again. Tilling is a way to cause yourself a lot of extra work, if you just don't have to do it.

Keep adding compost, and keep beds mulched. I often use compost for mulch, but we get it free from the county, so I can afford to do it. Maybe your county offers that service?

Watch the sun. Plant your tallest crops in the west side of the bed, and the shortest crops on the east side of the bed. Nothing shades anything (as a rule) this way.

Have fun!

Janie