rye grass in my veggie patch

[robynrainbow]

I have started a veggie garden out the back in small metre square sections. It's going really well but for a few years I've been very slack and we have had rye grass flowering and setting seed out there. I am now having many many (millions!!) of seeds growing and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to stop them from growing!! I don't want to spray toxic stuff (non organic) but I'm worried that if I don't put in hours of pulling these evil things up they will take over my garden!

robyn

[David Corkill]

It depends on what sort of soil and mulch you have as to how you can deal with the rye grass coming up.

A sharp dutch hoe is what I often  use in thast sort of situation. Hand weed around the vege stems so I don't cut them out or cut off too many roots,, then in between the veges with the hoe. However if there is a half decent layer of mulch, the hoe is less effective.

Of course with a good layer of mulch you should not get so many seeds coming up. If you have plenty of mulch and the weeds are still pushing up through, I would turn the mulch upside down in big pads, pulling out and upending the weeds by doing so.