Weeding raised beds

11 years ago

My husband was being treated for cancer last fall and I had not the time or energy to do any fall clean up or cover the raised beds like I usually do with leaves and pine needles to keep weeds down.
So they are now full of weeds. I went out today to start pulling weeds in the bed where I will soon plant garden peas and after an hour the bed is still weedy. I've attached a cell phone photo of the bed AFTER an hour of pulling weeds. They are very thick and matted. I don't know what the weeds are but there is a variety!

What can I do that will be less time consuming and easier on my 57 year old back to get rid of all the weeds? I garden organically and so I don't use chemicals. The weeds that I pulled are around the perimeter of the bed for now to keep other weeds from sprouting--it is a chore to keep up with the weeds in my raised beds! I've put down newspapers, cardboard, etc and the soil eats it and sends more weeds. :) I'm in coastal Va not far from the Chesapeake Bay so the soil has a lot of sand. Thanks for any ideas to rid my 4 raised beds of weeds!

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Comments (4)

Kimmsr
11 years ago
How effective, long term, newspaper or cardboard would be at unwanted plant growth suppression depends on the plant. Annuals are easily controlled by excluding light while some perennial unwanted plants are not. I have stopped Quack Grass for one year with newspaper, but after that it grows back thicker and more vigorous then before.
Keep in mind that while mulches can help control unwanted plant growth they are not the permanent solution some are led to believe.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 years ago
Did you just grab and pull or did you use a fork? If you use a full sized garden fork you could dig that size area over very quickly - certainly under an hour. Push the fork in lever up a bit, pull the weed, shake off the soil. Repeat. It's really quick. If you use a hand fork it's the same principle but slower and less deep cultivation. BTW 57 is no age at all for a back and forking a bed over is great exercise for it ;-)
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kimpa zone 9b N. Florida.
11 years ago
How about scrape off top growth with a hoe. Dig only the rows. Plants peas then cover other areas with cardboard or newspaper. Put cut off weeds on top of cardboard/newspapers to hold it down. Sounds simple but I know it is not really.

But I have found that keeping up with the layers of paper really does stop plant growth. Also you may consider planting cover crops this fall to compete with those weeds. Best wishes to you and your husband!
Julie Molohon
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Try an all natural weed killer, I've seen different recipes on Facebook, and also, placing newspaper on the beds is a great idea during the winter months, it's also a good recycle, reuse, repurpose idea, it makes a great weed block once you've planted as well. Brown paper bags work too.

Good luck with you're weeding.

Sending healing thoughts and prayers for you and your husband.