Stop pesky grasses in beds?

[Andrew]

That's pretty much it... seems like every time I pull weeds, something else pops up, but the grasses just seem to multiply.

What's the standard procedure for managing these things? I cannot imagine that it's pulling them, because there are, like, 4,000...

 

[thistlebloom]

Unfortunately hand pulling is best IMHO, and not really as bad as it might seem when your weed grass is far apart (relatively) as yours looks. Put a good book or music on your headphones and get down there.

 

[Beekissed]

Rogue scuffle hoe!!! Takes the back ache out of dealing with such things and cuts the grass off under the crown, leaving the root to decompose in the soil.

 

[journey11]

That looks like it might be nutsedge, if it multiplies by runners under the mulch or soil. It is particularly exasperating, along with quack grass and bermuda. You can pull and pull all season long, and it just comes right back from the little pieces of runners left behind.

Grass killer, and sometimes more than one application, will do it. But most of the time it shows up in the veggie garden where I don't want to spray that stuff around my food. Other things I find that work pretty well is to either smother it with something impenetrable and heavy, like the coal conveyor belt I got from my DH's work (but not everyone has that laying around). Or put my chickens over the area off season and let them completely scratch and trample it. Or pour boiling water on it. Otherwise you could pull and sift through the soil repeatedly until you think you've got it all. And stay on top of it if any comes back. Not something I've got time for, anyway. If it's not in a bed with something edible, I would just spray it.

It is an accursed thing. Good luck!

 

[seedcorn]

Grass killer is only way. I have 4 different types of grass in my garden. I pull & pull & pull & pull & pull, put a barrier around garden to stop runners from yard. All to no avail. You can't get all the roots or seeds, next rain, here they come. One of the reasons not everyone gardens-it's work & never ending.

 

[ducks4you]

Best to weed after a rain OR heavily water the bed and pull. Most of the unwanted grasses end up bc of two reasons:
1) somebody is mowing and blows grass with seeds into your bed
Remedy: YOU do the mowing right next to the bed.
2) working the soil pulls up buried seeds which can live unsprouted for years in your soil
I try hard to wear my gardening gloves, but sometimes I can get grass out by the roots easier barehanded. One more thing--heavily compost your garden bed and it makes weeding MUCH easier than having to dig them out with a trowel.

 

[baymule]

Fence your garden and put pigs in it. They will completely destroy it, dig, root, and do what pigs do. Smooth it out after the pigs go to freezer camp and plant your garden. I have never had personal experience with geese, but I have read that they love the nut on nut grass and will did them up to eat them. Nut grass is marketed as chuffa and is in wildlife and deer plot mixes.

I have giant ragweed, nut grass, Bermuda, crab grass, red root pigweed, nut grass, just to name a few, in my garden. I put pigs in it, turned the sheep in it, mulched it, and I still fight the weeds......until it gets past 95 degrees. Then I let the weeds have at it and wait for fall to go clean it up again.

This fall, we are going to cover the entire garden with cardboard and mulch over it. The few places where I did that are not entirely weed free, but it helps. My sheep love it when I pull weeds and stand at the fence waiting for me to throw them over the fence. Before we sent this years pigs to freezer camp, they also waited eagerly on their weeds.

 

[ducks4you]

Ditto, with chickens. They are more "destructive" than you think, but you have to guard them while they do their thing.

 

[baymule]

Put the chickens in the garden after you are done for the year. Or make a chicken tractor and move it daily.

 

[ducks4you]

I bought a small pop up chicken tractor from McMurray called a "Peck N Play". I've used it once, but plan to put it out next time I want to garden for several hours AND clear an area. Gotta watch my cats around it. I added it to an order last year, but can't find it on the website anymore.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/images/global/pe/Peck&Playgirls.jpg