DIYbanter - View Single Post - Flame Weeding: Why Not Burn Them Until They're Gone?

songbird

wrote:
....
Don't know what kind of weeds you have, but leaving just a tiny part
of the root of a Plantain or Dandelion a;llows it to grow back quitr
vigorously, and twirch grass is almost impossible to kill permanently
- even with chemicals. Knotweed is another real bugger, along with
Black Medic and "creaping charlie"

i don't actually consider any of those weeds
in the grassy places that we mow.

in the mulched places, any significant population
of weeds starting is an indication that the mulch
needs to be redone (cleaned out or replaced).

for woody mulches like the OP has described the
method i use is to scrape off the top layer of
less decayed wood chips and then remove all the
rest down to the weed barrier fabric. those make
excellent garden food.

a quicker way, if you don't mind things stacking
up is to put down a few layers of cardboard and
then put the wood chips over them (but it has to
be deep enough to actually cover). eventually
the cardboard decays but by them most weeds are
smothered.

i just redid an area about 4 sq meters and it
took less time than it would to weed or flame a
few times. won't have to touch it for a few more
years now. while i'm at it i usually put old
news papers and other papers under there so i
don't have to bother feeding them through the
shredder.

after another few rounds of this i'll scrape
it out and use it as garden food.

for the stone mulched areas that get a lot of
plant debris dropped on them the best answer when
they get a lot of weeds popping up is to take it
all up and screen out the crud and replace it.

i've always thought that a good invention for
a lawn service would be a vaccuum, screener,
replacer unit all in one so you could just go
along and get it done, just empty the hopper of
crud when it gets full...

songbird