That little rainy spell really got the weeds growing! Maybe it’s more productive to think of these weeds as biomass production for future compost… 

One good thing about very moist soil is that weeds are easily pulled, so during breaks in the weather, I have been doing just that: pulling and piling weeds, preparing next season’s compost. 

While many weeds are easy to pull, a few are tenacious enough that I prefer to smother them: cover the overgrown area with newspapers, several sheets thick and moistened so that they stay down. Then cover the newspapers with grass clippings — or even with pulled weeds. By next spring, this area will be weed-free, nutrient-rich (from the decomposed grass clippings and weeds) and ready to plant. It takes several months for this weed-killing effort to work, but it’s worth the wait.

Jean English is the editor of MOFGA’s, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.