Hoe Hoe Hoe

My Nevada lettuce has now come up.
Even as small as it is, it's been hoed one time.
My spinach also has come up.
And nicely hoed.
Peas.

Hoed. This is how I keep my garden weed free all year long. Hoe hoe hoe!!!

Hoed

Everything that is planted is now hoed and ready for the next rain. No weeds yet.

Planting weeds

When you plant vegetable seeds in freshly tilled soil you need to pack the soil on top of the seeds. Weed seeds are already in the soil and every time you make a foot print you plant 50 of them. In a few hours of planting in the garden you have planted 20,000 weeds. If you rake, hoe or rototill away the foot prints you will have planted no weeds and will have a weed free garden like mine.

Hoeing

A hoe is my best weapon in the arsenal against weeds. Very simple. Every time it rains, a thin crust forms on the surface of the soil. As soon as that crust dries out I brake it up with my hoe. The thickness of the crust is usually 1/4 inch to 1 inch. This is very easy to do physically if you do it every time it rains. By braking the crust the path of osmosis between the air and the soil will be broken and transfer of water between soil and air will stop. That (poor man mulch) will conserve moisture and make your garden grow better. When the sun shines on that loose soil the soil temperature goes way up and your garden will grow better. As oxygen penetrates the soil the billions of micro-organisms in the soil will multiply rapidly and that will make your garden grow better. A consolation prize in all of this is a weed free garden like mine.

Hoe

My hoe has not been used for 4 1/2 months but it is in the same condition it was when I put it away last fall. (Please forgive the lens flare)