I can't afford to have someone come by with a weedwhacker, so i decided to just pull the weed grasses from my yard by hand. These things cover the yard in a prairie like way, but then turn into evil foxtails that catch in everything and hurt. They also torment my cats, getting into their ears, between their toes, and sticking into their skin everywhere.

So this year I am just doing hand weeding. I grasp a hunk of the grasses near the bottom, and they come up in tufts. I am making a compost bin just for these 'weed seeds' - making sure the compost gets hot enough to kill the seeds off.

It's a big job, but soothing and productive, and the tufts come out readily with the right kind of tug. I am doing different sections of the property over different days. It's coming along.

so, really, having no money is no excuse in situations, if you have the physical strength to be outside and bending over.

Other cheap weeding methods are using salt water or boiling water to kill weeds, or laying down old carpet or plastic over the weeds to kill them off. Laying down pine needles or even old blankets. Any kind of thick mulch will help.

Any other ideas? Do you do any hand weeding?

I don't mind weeding by hand.

Weeds are easier to pull out after a good rain. The softer, moist dirt releases the roots better with a little steady pulling at ground level.

I also recommend gloves. Some weeds have tiny hairs along their stems that are like tiny needles when they touch and embed themselves into your skin. I have been there, done that. Not pleasant, and very irritating for hours afterwards! Some weeds also have thorns, so a nice sturdy pair of gloves protects you from possible injury, and also spider and insect bites.

Debbie, you are totally right about the gloves - i even have gloves! And yes, there are some very irritating weeds here in the desert uplands. I actually have a splinter right now from a piece of bamboo that I stuck myself with while pulling the grasses.

I find myself weeding opportunistically, though. I see a tuft and pull it, then a few others, and then go back to what I am doing.

In case anyone was curious where to get garden gloves for cheap, The Dollar Tree has pairs for a buck. Also, my ACE has a few free glove specials a year if you keep up with their circulars.

Hi there,

The thing too is to get to know what your weeds look like and to get them removed before they go to seed. That way you will beat a lot of hassle. It is what I try to do and it does work, especially after the rains.

Cheers

Absolutely! It's a learning process. For me it's a matter of getting the foxtails out before they turn brown. In Arizona that can happen in a very short time.

I'll have everything mulched well over before next spring, now that I found a free unlimited source of wood mulch.

Hey Jill and all,

I think I understood correctly on your first post on the free wood mulch that the people you are getting from are tree fellers and trimers and all so it is natural and 'clean' wood as it were.

Just a warning to others who may not be as lucky but who may also want to speak to timber works and shop-fitting companies and/or timber merchants.

Be careful that your source of wood and sawdust and etc. is natural and not the offcuts or dust from lacquered or painted wood or chemically treated wood or plaswood or melamine veneers etc.

Your gardening will suffer greatly if you use the wrong sawdust cos generally it looks the same. Ask and be sure. Also need to avoid wood lice wood ants and wood from diseased trees.

Oh dear, I don't want to be a wet blanket, but please learn from my mistakes!

Cheers now...