Herbicides the last resort in VS .NET

Encode EAN13 in VS .NET Herbicides the last resort

If you face a plot of weeds, you may be tempted to reach for an herbicide, one of those skull-and-crossbones chemicals that kill vegetation as quickly as bad breath kills romance Stop! All herbicides are toxic, and most are persistent, which means they stay around to do damage long after the weeds are history If you have a thick stand of poison ivy that isn t fazed by being cut back repeatedly, then an herbicide may be necessary But in general herbicides should be a last resort Handle them carefully and always read the directions: Not only are herbicides dangerous to you, they can be dangerous to adjacent plants (and wildlife) Choose a windless day and always spot-spray individual plants (even better, paint on the herbicide) rather than drench an entire site

If you must use herbicides, consider these pointers: Look for organic herbicides derived from corn gluten, lemon juice, vinegar, or other natural substances Most organic herbicides are slow acting and less effective than synthetic weed killers, but work moderately well on emerging annual weeds Many gardeners consider Roundup, a glyphosate-based weed killer, to be the least harmful of the synthetic herbicides Its persistence is brief, yet it s an effective assassin However, Roundup is also nonselective, which means it will kill anything you spray Aim carefully

After you clear your site, it s time to ready the soil for planting You ll be doing two things at once: loosening, or aerating, the soil and improving the soil by adding all that organic matter you ve collected and composted Fall is the best time to tackle this job so you can let frost break up clumps and clods for you during the winter but you can take it on any time that the soil s not frozen or soppy wet Begin by covering your garden with a generous layer 3 inches or more of organic material Not only do you want to enrich your soil, you want to raise the soil level, because you lowered it an inch or two when you removed the sod

If your garden is both new and large and your time is limited, consider renting a rototiller to turn the soil Ask for a model with rear-mounted tines, which is much easier to manage than a front-tine tiller Rototillers, or just plain tillers, are real back- and time-savers, but they re too good at their job Run one over a garden three or four times, and the soil looks terrific Well, it looks terrific, but it isn t really terrific Overtilling pulverizes soil, destroying the pore spaces that air, water, and nutrients use to travel to the roots of plants The goal is soil with the consistency of bread stuffing, not flour Don t overdo it Going overboard is all too tempting, so follow the rules of rational rototilling: Don t till when the soil is wet Squeeze a handful of soil If it doesn t crumble when you open your hand, it s too wet to be tilled

To avoid a date with a chiropractor, dig ergonomically, a fancy term that refers to a design or method to reduce operator fatigue and discomfort If you already have big-league back problems, consider buying ergonomic tools and follow this advice for all gardeners on the working end of a fork, shovel, or spade Here s how to dig properly: 1 Keep the handle of your tool straight up and down 2 Put your foot on the tread, or footrest, and use your weight to drive the tines or blade into the soil 3 Bend at the waist and knees to push the handle down and forward 4 Straighten your waist and knees to lift and turn the dirt

Don t till when the soil is bone dry If you can t squeeze a handful of soil into a ball, it s too dry to be tilled Water the plot thoroughly, wait a day, and then till Don t overtill the soil One or two passes is usually enough If you do overtill, add organic matter to correct your mistake Don t use a rototiller for routine weeding or cultivation Ideally, you ll need to rototill only once, the first time you prepare the bed; you don t need to do it every spring Rototilling disturbs the soil ecosystem and brings buried weed seeds to the surface to germinate, so do it only when necessary to start or renew a garden