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This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEM curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Gardening.

Annual gardens do come with a lot of maintenance.  The better your soil is, the quicker the weeds will grow.  If you accidentally till your garden you'll have even more weeds.  Keeping the weeds under control gets easier as the season progresses and if you keep them from going to seed, it will get easier each year.  Yes, I know many "weeds" are edible.  Feel free to eat as many as you want as you pull them :)  Let's weed that garden bed!



Weeding tips (ignore the parts about icky herbicides):


Minimum requirements:
  - Area of at least 10 square feet
  - Organic options:
       - Pull weeds and compost or leave on the surface to dry out
       - Cut weeds at surface by hand or with hoe
       - Weeding tool
       - Smother weeds with a bunch of mulch
  - You can leave up to 2 desirable "weeds" per square foot
  - Can include paths and/or perennial areas
  - No rototiller or herbicides

Provide proof of the following as pictures or video (<2 min):
  - The area prior to weeding
  - Midway through weeding with any tools you're using
  - The freshly weeded garden
  - Prove 10 square feet if it isn't obvious
COMMENTS:
 
pollinator
Posts: 261
Location: Central Virginia, Zone 7.
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Edge case submission
Hmmm.  I just went out and attempted this one.  Guinea pig time.

Top pic:  A section of my garlic bed.  Surrounded by grass, and some weeds within (nettle, dandelion, small clumps of grass).

I arbitrarily chose a 4x6 section to clear.  Using my hands and occasionally the horihori, I yanked out the deplorables.

Bottom pic is the result.  Ummmm .... doesn't look very cleared.  I pulled the weeds up and dropped them with the garlic.  The grass clumps I turned over so the roots are in the air.

Is this ok, the way I did it?  It looks like the weeds are still in there.  Well, they *are* still in there, they're just dead.



Before.jpg
[Thumbnail for Before.jpg]
After.jpg
[Thumbnail for After.jpg]
Staff note (gir bot) :

Someone flagged this submission as an edge case.
BBV price: 0
Note: I think that would qualify if you had all three pictures

 
Gary Numan
pollinator
Posts: 261
Location: Central Virginia, Zone 7.
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Approved submission
Oop. Here.  One pic with weeds, one with the nettle pulled out:

WeedsYes.jpg
Onion bed needs weeding
Onion bed needs weeding
WeedsNo.jpg
Weed free onion garden
Weed free onion garden
Staff note (gir bot) :

Someone approved this submission.
Note: Approved in conjunction with the pics from the prior submission

 
gardener
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Approved submission
I weeded my strawberry patch. The brown stick there in the picture is a yard stick. I estimate this area is well over 18 square feet.
before weeding

weeds in progress

after weeding
Staff note (gir bot) :

Paul Fookes approved this submission.
Note: I certify this BB complete.

 
master gardener
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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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Approved submission
It isn't 100% certain in my mind that this'll count -- I've weeded this bed as part of prep for the season rather than weeding between the desirable plants. The  BB's description doesn't indicate that this isn't what you're looking for, but it popped into my head as I was doing the work.

The bed that I'm documenting is made with four-foot 2x6 walls between concrete bed-blocks. The vertices add a little distance, so it's slightly bigger than 4' x 12' -- way bigger than the 10 sq ft you're looking for. (Though, I built this bed around a stump to help rot it down, so you could subtract ~4 sq ft to be fair...) Let me know if you need a tape-measure put down, but I think you'll think it's obvious.

Provide proof of the following as pictures or video (<2 min):
 - The area prior to weeding
 - Midway through weeding with any tools you're using
 - The freshly weeded garden
 - Prove 10 square feet if it isn't obvious



bedBefore01.jpg
Here's how it started out. I grew potato onions here last year and followed with a cover-crop mix. But it's always getting invated by neighboring grass too.
Here's how it started out. I grew potato onions here last year and followed with a cover-crop mix. But it's always getting invated by neighboring grass too.
bedBefore02.jpg
This is just showing the scope of the bed from the side.
This is just showing the scope of the bed from the side.
onions.jpg
I knew I failed to harbest a couple onions.
I knew I failed to harvest a couple onions.
halfDone.jpg
I went into this expecting to just push-pull with the stirrup hoe to chop everything off below the dirt-line but the root-mass was too dense and I failed-over to the grub hoe...
I went into this expecting to just push-pull with the stirrup hoe to chop everything off below the dirt-line but the root-mass was too dense and I failed-over to the grub hoe...
TheOtherTools.jpg
after busting up the surface with the big hoe, I combed it with my hands. The main goal is to remove running grass rhizomes, but if I get rid of come Creeping Charlie too, that's fine.
after busting up the surface with the big hoe, I combed it with my hands. The main goal is to remove running grass rhizomes, but if I get rid of come Creeping Charlie too, that's fine.
done.jpg
I finished that first half Thursday after work and then had to wait till this morning to finish it up. I'll plant some cool-weather stuff right away including Favas that I have soaking and need to get in the ground because they're sprouting.
I finished that first half Thursday after work and then had to wait till this morning to finish it up. I'll plant some cool-weather stuff right away including Favas that I have soaking and need to get in the ground because they're sprouting.
soManyOnions.jpg
Dang...I had no idea I left so many. :-)
Dang...I had no idea I left so many. :-)
Staff note (gir bot) :

Mike Haasl approved this submission.
Note: Yeah, this is intended for mid-season weeding but I'll count it

 
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