Weed Control

You mentioned Bermuda grass...but what other types of weeds are you dealing with?

From what I've read on Bermuda grass it's pretty aggressive and will choke out weeds once established, probably why you have it...someone was trying to grow a lawn and this is about the toughest grass going... I'm not going to tell you to spray it...my personal bias is against using chemical controls in any guise. besides most herbicides are formulated to control broad leaf plants.(You would likely have to use the serious broad spectrum herbicides like 2,4,D or 2,4,5T, and they are linked with cancer and birth defects, so whether you use it or not is up to you...but I can't see why you would)
I would suggest depriving it of sunlight as well as moisture. I use a sheet of EPDM, (heavy black plastic used for pond liners) and spread it where you want to kill off the grass. leave it there til you're sure it's cooked the roots; then remove and dig your plant holes...you can then install the weed barriers and place your mulch once you have everything else planted.
Sounds like a big job... I wish you success.
Lori

Thanks! I know it is very aggressive and I don't like chemicals, either. You never know what they are going to do to the surrounding area.

The black heavy plastic sounds like a possibility.

I would use a cover to get rid of weeds, I have just used black bin liners. It sounds as if you have a job and a half there Skippy.

Gail

These weeds are very aggresive and strong. This will be a dumb question but what is the purpose of the mulch in this situation? I grow a lot of things but I don't even profess to being a knowledgeable gardener. I plant and water, fertilize once in a while. I leave the rest up to God.

Lori,

I don't know the names of my weeds. I probably should but I only have so many hours in a day. I probably have 3 free hours in any given day. The rest of the time I am fixing meals for my Mom,washing clothes, cleaning house and all the rest of your run of the mill day activities. I do think the heavy black plastic may be the answer.

Hi Skippy..it is never a dumb question....you just need more information! lol.... the mulch is kind of the last step...a mulch can be a lot of things... it could be small pebbles, or bark chips...or larger stuff like logs or river rock...it all depends what you want to use to cover between the plants to obscure the landscape (weed barrier) fabric. it's no problem if you don't know the name of your weeds, either, really...it just helps to know if you're dealing with something like bindweed (wild morning glory) because it's roots go very deep and it's really hard to eradicate. But most weeds will be dealt with by cooking them under plastic, then the landscape fabric helps to keep them from coming back. Sounds like you have your hands full and there's just not enough hours in your day... the plastic does the work so you don't have to labour with a shovel. hope it works for you.

Hello Skippy,
I've just been reading all about you and yr garden, and it sounds great. I was wondering, is your Mum able to walk or sit in the garden and enjoy it?

My mom broke her ankle when she was 80 and the doctor just told her it was sprained. She complained about it but he just kept telling her it was a BAD sprain. I finally took her to another doctor who said it looked like it had been broken but it was too late to do anything about it so she now walks on the side of her foot and her whole body has shifted to compensate and she uses a walker. She also has macular degeneration which meanns she has lost her central vision in both eyes.

She never goes outside except to go to church or to the doctor once evry six weeks.

Your free time is precious, Skippy, so I would suggest following Lori's advice and go for covering with black plastic. It may not be very attractive while it is doing the job but the end result should be worth the wait.
Please keep us posted on what you decide to do and how it goes.
All the best.

Did you come to any decisions over the weeds, or are you still looking for hours in the day to put your plans into action?

It must be difficult fitting gardening hours in between your other tasks. I hope your mother is keeping as well as poss.

I have begun to utilize the black plastic and cover with all these wonderful smaller rocks I have dug up out of the yard. It will be tedious work but I have all winter to do it. I work at it about 10 hours a week. I also bought some gardening fabric which I can put around my trees and put decorative rock over it. This fabric will allow the water to get to the tree but will discourage light to the weed seeds. We'll see what happens next spring.

That sounds like you've been working hard and made a really good start. As you say, you can do it a little at a time over the winter. I'm sure the end results will be worth it! I envy you those rocks! Maybe not digging them up, but rocks and stones are lovely in a garden as decoration. :o)

Every little bit helps. I have mesquite stumps that keep trying to grow back and I want to use them as supports for garden benches. I wrapped them in plastic and maybe they won't grow next spring. BTW-TT, I put a pumpkin picture on the site.

Hi Skippy,

Not so sure about all that stuff. Depending upon the time of the year you might have black mulches on your area for a full year. In the States there is a crabgrass killer, even in lawns. I hate to use chemicals but somtimes I must.

My alternative being next late spring, tarp and surround with cardboard the infested areas and spray the crabgrass with Round-up which I know you have. If misty or rainy, cover that sprayed area afterwords with black plastic. Sol, will help you out with the increased temprature. It should die within 2 weeks. Dig out and replant.

As for other plants in the garden, I just plop a five gallon bucket or whatever is needed over plants to protect and spray carefully. Two weeks later, I just need to weed out the ones that had intruded into the plant space. Now is NOT a good time to do any of that. Waste of money.

I do not like fabric barriers esp. if they are cheap and for other reasons. I much prefer serious mulching of COARSER bark chips or gravel. Weeds are easy to scuffle hoe out.