How does your garden grow? Does anyone have this experience?

Dh and I have a lawnmower that bags our clippings. We clip and save and layer and layer in the rows of our veggie garden. We've even mowed the neighbors yard (with their permission) to get clippings to keep those pesky weeds down. We try to keep the layer about 2 inches thick. We also try not to til the garden. It just stirs those weeds seeds up and plants them for you. We have a lot of worms that do that work for us. :) We may have to this year, though, to mix in some additives (MORE compost, fertilizer, and peat) to make the soil a little better for those veggies.

We used to have a small garden in front of our house.I do enjoy watching th garden but my mom was the real manpower bend the growth.And could certainly say that days after the rain effect the well kept garden leading to profuse growth of weeds grass and also rotting down of very young plants.Sometimes the whole of family used to get involved in the cleaning process and it used to be fun.

I know what you mean with the weeds taking over. A few years ago I started doing a different method and it works great. Of course, it depends on the size of your garden, too. I save old newspapers (NOT the colored or glossy ones though.) After I rototill, I stick markers (wood with string) where my rows go. Then I rake back in the area where I will walk when I'm in my garden. I take about 4 pages of newspaper thick and lay it down in the walkway area (overlapping it as I go so there's no gap for weeds to get through), then rake the dirt back over top of it and you'll never see it or know it's even there. I have good luck doing it this way, at least now I only have to weed around the plants as opposed to a big area. The nice thing about using the newspaper is that it's biodegradable and after winter, when you're ready to till again in the spring, it's totally disintegrated and integrated into the soil.

not very good-mine at least. i figure whatever grows above and beyond the weeds is good enough.. its never perfect like the amish farmers gardens..aren't they amazing? so straight, and all even, and no weeds..!

I love gardening myself but HATE weeding, therefore, in the fall I rake all my leaves into my garden/flowerbeds, making the piles at least 2' high evenly across. Then come spring time, it had a chance to break down some and the perennials grow right thru it but not the weeds. This can be done either in the fall with leaves or spring with grass clippings. You can also plant annuals by just moving the natural mulch back, plant then move it back around the plant leaving about an inch or two bare. I've done this for years and have yet to encounter a weed problem in my beds/garden. The natural mulch also provides the nutrients for the plants to grow strong as it breaks down. No need for chemical fertilizers then. As for my gravel driveway, I do have to use Round-up on that or the grass takes over in a matter of weeks.

I've learned not to rototil. You're only exposing the weed seeds that are deeper. My secret is to not walk on the garden where you are going to plant. That includes when it's empty. I've used the previously mentioned paper trick but now I have planks and stone that are strategically placed in the garden to allow for planting and light weeding and I do mean light. I tried this a few years ago and was so pleased with the results that I made it more permanent with the planks. I hope you find this helpful.