Normally I garden organically and hand weed everything out of my garden before planting, and continue to hand weed through out the year. This year, however, because I’m planning a wedding, I have not gotten into my garden to weed in time, and the whole raised bed (40×8 feet) is covered in all kinds of weeds! I can identify dandelion, purslane and lambs quarters, but not much else, and there’s lots of different weeds out there. Like I said, normally I hand weed, and the plants I can identify, I eat (they are very healthy), the rest go into the compost, but if I tried to hand weed this at this point, I’ll probably miss the opportune time to get my plants in the ground. There’s no point in veggie gardening if you don’t have a long enough season to get veggies off of any of your plants.
So, I’ve resigned myself to the idea of using a weed killer for an all over spray of my garden (after I dig up and relocate my onions, of course), but I’m worried that if I spray a weed killer, the seeds I plant in my garden in two weeks won’t grow. Is there a weed killer that is out of the soil in a week or two? Even three, I might be able to swing three weeks but any later than that and I might as well not plant a garden at all, which isn’t an option because we’re hosting my wedding in my back yard and I do not want to have a big 320 square foot patch of weedy dirt in the middle of my reception.
I have used vinegar in the past to kill weeds in rocks. The effects don’t last long, but it does kill plants (not the seeds, but what are you going to do?). How long does that stay in your soil? Will it hurt my plants if I plant them two weeks after application? What about a combo of vinegar and soap, which I hear is more effective than vinegar alone? Anyone know? What are my other herbicide options besides vinegar? It doesn’t necessarily have to be organic (I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as organic herbicides, but maybe I’m wrong, and if you can point me in the direction of one I will love you forever), it just has to be safe to plant seeds, seedlings and established plants 2-3 weeks after the herbicide application.
Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!
It’s a raised bed, and only 8 feet wide, so I’m not sure how I’d mow it.
Also, won’t use Monsanto products for ethical reasons, so RoundUp is out of the question. Besides, the peer reviewed studies I’ve read says it stays in the soil for at least a year. I’ve never read a study that wasn’t funded by Monstanto that said otherwise.
