This morning, I began weeding my raised beds at 9 a.m.  At 10 a.m., my gardening angel joined me.  By 11:20, we had weeded 3 large beds, a medium bed, and 3 small beds.  We still have 9 small beds to go.  What was the most frequently found weed out there?  Bindweed?  Chickweed?  Henbit?  Dandelions? Noooo… it was grass. 

Grass is a big issue in most people’s gardens around here.  It’s tenacious.  Pasture grass has roots that are measured in feet, not inches, so pulling it is virtually impossible.  Today, we cut it down with trimmers. Yes, we know it will come back, but the idea was to get it down to a manageable size until we figure out how we want to deal with it.  Digging it out along the inner edge of a raised bed just does not work.  The only answer at this point seems to be use of chemical means, but there are food crops already planted in those beds, so…. what to do?

If I didn’t care about being an organic gardener, I’d be out there painting on glyphosate tomorrow at sunrise,but… it’s not organic and I’m just not that desperate yet.  I believe I will be trying white vinegar tomorrow during the heat of the day,just to give it a try and to see what kind of results I get from that.  Some people insist on covering unwanted grassy areas with cardboard until lack of sunlight kills it, but this is right up against the wooden sides of raised beds, and that would be really, really difficult.  Let’s see how the vinegar does first.  Any other organic suggestions anyone has to share would be greatly appreciated!