You can use a rake as a hoe;it breaks up clods better.I tried it.

water before you weed, it makes pulling the weeds easier.

now that's a good idea.

I read that weeds, before they go to seed, are very good for your compost. something to with them being native to the soil, and vigerous growers....strong cells ect.

have to do two things though if you put them in your compost. one is make sure they are seed free and two make sure they are disease free. but then, yes, they are good compost material.

If you have a fireplace and burn wood you can take the ash put it in a bucket fill it with water skim off the stuff that come to the top and the rest will be potash. I add that to my compost and to my flower beds. It is great.

The other thing I do is wash my egg shells and when I have enough I run them through my coffee grinder until they are powdered and then I add them to my tomato beds to help stop BER.

Foundation beds shouldn't be mulched with a wood mulch because it can draw termites to your house.

Banana skins are full of nourishment. Since they rot quickly, dig them in near the surface of the soil.

Pure ammonia is a cheap weed killer.

so's pure vinegar

I read where all you need to do is put a rock barrier (I put pea gravel) between your mulched area and the foundation. It has to be at least 6 inches in width. it seems that termites will not/cannot(?) go over 6 inches of rock. it looks kinda nice as well.

6-8 inches minimum. which is why so many houses in the south are on brick or block pillars. keeps those critters out.

now i AM CONFUSED-- I meant 6 inches horizontally not vertically. which do you mean???---I wish I knew where I read my info at I really would like to go re-read it to make sure I didn't misunderstand it.

also: I have like 8 to 10 inches of rock not the 6 the article recommeded. first is the foundation then the rock then the mulch---

[Wall]---6-10 inches pea gravel---I---mulch---I

it sounds like you are fine JunieGirl. Me I'm pulling the bark away and will just have the bed so full of pretty plants that I won't need any mulch at all. Although a horizontal or vertical barrier certainly will work.

Right now I have bulbs that will cover from early spring all the way through summer. I just have to save my money for the fall blooming plants now and that bed will be complete well and some snowdrops.

I like the boiling water for weeding. At least where there aren't any plants that I can damage.

I have the foundation-12 inches width of crushed rock-then the flower beds also. We do it here to prevent snakes from nesting against the foundations(we don't have termites in our area)

Another tip....don't use bark nugget mulch if you have ants on your property, they'll re-nest in it. (lesson learned)

If you have rhysomes, bulbs or corms and rodents like squirrels, or voles you can use screen around your plants to keep the rodents from damaging them.

you got that right, everyone knows I dig plants up and sometimes I have other things to do besides get them all back in the ground and last summer I had nake ladyes where I am sure I didn't plant them