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Now that you have your plot prepared and the plants in what do you do next? Water and spray for weeds, right? Well, half right. Watering is always great but the one side effect of watering is that if there are any roots left of the weeds or grass that was in your garden plot then they will start growing again and can compete for the nutrients, water or even choke out your careful planting.

So what can you do about that? You need to put a weed barrier or mulch on your garden. There are several ways you can deal with weeds. Some will be more expensive than others will. Look around compare prices and see what is best for your budget. So here we go.

What are the three main types of weed control? Plastic, Organic and Living.

Plastic can consist of plastic sheeting or plastic mulch (on the market there are bags of ground up plastic bottles and the like).

Benefit: This makes a great weed barrier and good use of recycled materials (less for landfills). Warms the soil for those plants that prefer warmer soil.

Side effect: Water penetration is not that good, it can restrict how much water actually gets to the roots. If used around plants that does not like warm soil it can retard growth or vegetable production. Also, at the end of the season you will have to remove this from your garden before preparing the soil for winter so adds labor.

Organic can consist of any dead plant material like leaves, bark, hay, straw, grass clippings or pine needles. Or any processed natural product like plain newspaper or cardboard. Any of this must be put on in a thick layer.

Benefit: Most will allow good water penetration and if there is a sudden summer rain fall the grass, hay, straw will absorb excess water that the ground is not able to. This will also help keep the direct sunlight from the soil so it will not evaporate as fast thus conserving water usage. Also grass clipping especially will add nitrogen back into the soil. Any of these also can be used in combination with each other. Like placing a layer of cardboard or newspaper down and then putting your grass clippings from your yard on top or hay straw, bark or pine needles. This has the effect of helping to warm the soil as well. At the end of the season you can work the organic mulch back into the soil.

Side effect: Pine needles will lower the pH of the soil so only use this where you desire this. Cardboard, newspaper and leaves will not absorb water as fast in a downpour, so could cause run off that might erode the soil.

Living mulch is just what it sounds like. Putting the plants so close together that they will not allow anything else will grow. For instance planting lettuce or radishes between and under tomatoes. Planting lettuce around carrots, beets, corn, cabbage and onions. Again at the end of the season just work the roots and all back into the soil adding nitrogen, bio-matter and other nutrients back into the soil.

There are very little side effects; the main is making sure that the plants are good companions.

What are the benefits of mulching your garden? Moisture conservation, Soil temperature control, Nutrition and pH balance. But, for me, the most important reason to mulch your garden is to reduce the weeds so you save your knees and back from having to hoe or pull the weeds. Since I started mulching a friend of mine calls me a “lazy” gardener because I do not have to put as much time in the garden taking care of the weeds.

Another benefit is you do not have to put chemicals on your garden for weed control and this helps you to maintain an organic garden.


This again is a picture from 2009 if you look closely you will see the grass clippings around my potato plants.