Round Up in an existing garden

[bkraft]

Due to the recent wet spell here I find my garden just about over run with weeds. I havent had time to do the usual till and Preen and have a bumper crop of grass and weeds.What I'm wondering is, has anybody sprayed Round Up very carefully and using a shield of cardboard or plywood around stuff you don't want dead? It runs in my mind that Round Up is systemic so if it doesn't come in contact with the peppers an stuff it shouldn't kill it. Right? Any info would be appricieated.

[Graybeard]

Wal yes and no. If the roots of the weeds you poison are in contact with the roots of your veggies it just might transfer and kill them too. Round up is not an appropriate tool to use in a planted garden.

[bkraft]

Upon further review, I have forsaken the Round-Up Idea and introduced my son to a time honored weeding tool, the hoe. It was and still is effictive, environmentally friendly and last but not least, cost effective. Also sweat does not in any way contaminate the veggies.

[BUGEYE]

what about your sons self-esteem?

[billy_56081]

I use it all the time in a small squirt bottle. Works great.

[bkraft]

It is a wonderful self esteem booster, he can bask secure in the knowledge of a job well done!

[blind ear]

Good heavy mulch can just about eleminate the hoe and the plow. Newspaper, hay, pine straw, griund bark,any organic porus material piled up under the plants will work. Cover the rows and middles solid with mulch. To plant, mark the row with a string and pull the mulch back to expose the ground. If the plants are emerged already just mulch around them.

The mulch can be stacked on top of live weeds and it will smother them. It takes about 10 inches of mulch. Leave a slight space around the plant's stalk to avoid fungus and rot, some air circulation. Most weeds that emerge can be weeded by hand.

It also helps to build great soil.

[Empty Quiver]

No touchy no killy. Roundup has zero soil activity, as a matter of fact if you use even slightly dirty water it is MUCH less effective. You could use a wick applicator and wipe it onto the weeds, avoiding drift.

[bkraft]

Thanks for all the great information, got a bunch of old straw and planning to start mulching this weekend,

[blind ear]

For roundup you can double glove, chemical gloves with cotton gloves over them. Dip your hands in the roundup solution and hand rub any plants you wish to kill. This works well in established flower beds. Watch for poisionous snakes, you get caught up in the work and forget caution. To control poision ivy with poison ivy killer or roundup, wait until a couple or three weeks before frost so the chemical will be carried to the root for food reserve storage for the winter, otherwise the top will only be burned back and it will come back out next spring.

[bkraft]

Now that is a great idea, the double glove deal! I'll give that try. THANKS