If you feel better pulling your weeds, then pull them up; just dont hurt yourself outside in this vicious heat. There is no right or wrong way to create an organic garden, each one is unique in its own right. The main thing is to have fun while you are doing what you have decided to do. If you make a mistake, thatÂs ok too!

I have no experience with Round up; I can only rely on others to offer their thoughts on using the product. Again, IMO having fun, getting outside, learning new things, and enjoying a good meal created with crops fresh out the garden are but a few of the joys we all share here on this forum. And too, getting a chance to help another, or receiving help from another is but icing on the cakeÂ

Blutranes

I will only say if it were mine, I wouldn't want to use anything in soil I would be eating out of. I sympathize with the heat. I don't do much of anything, other than watering established plants, when it gets tooo hot, which for me is 90 or above.

I thought the lasagna bed prep I read recommended using a lawn mower on a lower setting? Sure you could pull 'em - that is MORE work and simply brings more weed seeds to the surface to germinate. I have used hedge trimmers before when the weeds get too BIG.

Can you do it in smaller pieces? Or simply wait until the weather breaks? Do you plan on using the bed this year?
Do your indoor planning, drawing, sketches, lists or whatever now.

Just a few thoughts.
Gumby_CT

thanks for the replies. I have managed to pull the bulk of the BIG weeds, (man some of those suckers pulled up a quart of dirt with their big ole roots...I will toss all this back under my cardboard and newspapers etc.

I will only be planting a garden in part of this area...and I wont be doing anything with it this year, most likely, UNLESS it comes together smoothly and shows sign of breaking down enough to plant in...but most likely not this year.

Gumby: I'm curious about your comment on pulling up the weeds will bring up more seeds to the surface? the real dilema I've been having with all this is my concept of weeds in general. That if roots are left in the ground, they will always come back..Of course I'm aware that the seeds they produce are responsible for spreading more plants etc. but if the weeds are pulled and left to break down under the lasagna bed(or not pulled but just cut back for that matter) wont the seed situation be the same?

-- I'm curious about your comment on pulling up the weeds will bring up more seeds to the surface?
I am by no means an expert of any sort, but I am happy to share what I do know.

Like many others here, I always thought pulling out the roots was the only way. Let me esplain.

I think we (as gardeners) have much to learn about weeds, how they grow, and can out compete the plants we nurture - seemingly with little moisture, nutrients, or care. How & why is that?

I do NOT have those answers but certainly find it fascinating to say the least.

First of all, there are weeds that are annuals or perennials. Also worth noting is there are many weeds which can be eaten, some which provide more nutrients than the plants we do nurture and decide to eat. I have much to learn in this area - if I am not mistaken one such weed is purslane which I have heard contains more (is it) Omega 3? than fish oils?

I have not mastered the weed ID thing myself but am told any weed worth eating will of course be pleasing to the taste. I am approaching this weed eating thing with caution and by no means am I recommending it for everyone. But I am told it is not at all like knowing which mushrooms to eat.

In any case, I was lucky enuff to sit in on a presentation by a UConn Professor/Scientist who says that some weed seeds can lie dormant in the soil for up to 40 years (read that as forty years). Do we have vegetable seeds that will last that long? Not many if we do. He claimed that it is believed that all these seeds need to trigger is a flash of sunlight, to know they are close enuff to the surface to germinate. Which is yet another reason NOT to till the soil. And that pulling weeds out will pull up more weed seeds to continue the cycle.

Learning this, I have begun to just carry a pair of scissors with me an just snip off the weed at soil level. Further that depriving weeds of moisture and/or sun will limit their germination. This is why mulches work to keep weeds down. Of course mulches include newspapers, cardboard, leaves, or generally any organic matter or something to block the light, it could be a ground cover (a living mulch). Whether those weeds will sprout again depends on if they are annuals or perennials. But I think it does help to bring many under control.

I had a very bad infestation of bindweed last year, likely brought in by using OPL's but learned to identify the young seedlings, and have made a huge improvement this year by simply yanking (or snipping) them in early spring, when they first sprout. Each year I hope to be able to identify a few more weeds, working towards also learning which ones are edible and worth letting grow.

I have, for years now, been removing most any weeds BEFORE they went to seed and with the use of mulches have many under control. When I first began composting, I refused to put any weed seeds in my compost in fear of just spreading more of their seeds.

I think the main focus of lasagna gardening is weed suppression by smothering any existing weeds and never turning the soil to disturb buried weed seeds, leading to "fewer" weeds.

Perhaps reading during this heat wave will be time well spent.
ps. It's 52 degree here right now - too cold to garden ;-)

I have been of the opinion that if you do NOT want to weed - do NOT garden, buy your veggies at the store ;-)

Now I am thinking they may be useful nutrients for the table.

HTH in some small way,
Gumby_CT - who wishes he had known about Lasagana gardening many years ago.