Ruthless Gardening: Smothering Invasive Plants

Spring is a busy gardening time - if it doesn't rain. To add to the pressure, work in my perennial beds needs to be done before the plants grow too big, so they won't be trampled down.

My aim? To get rid of a patch of gout weed that has grown - and expanded - under the snow fountain cherry tree in our front yard. Slowly but surely it is taking over!


 My first thought was to try to dig it out, but I didn't know how I would manage to weed crouched down under the tree, now in bloom and full of bees!

A few days of rain gave me time to think about it - and look through some old gardening magazines.






There I found a photo of a professional gardener creating a new flower bed by smothering grass with layers of wet newspaper. Would that work with the gout weed?! I looked for information online. One website said to cover the ground with 10-15 layers of newspaper. That is a lot! Another website says 5 is enough. I began, the wind ruffling the paper, making it hard to lay flat. I watered the paper, but didn't finish the project before running out of paper...




Every day, I plan to quickly read the day's paper, then add it to the garden! Hopefully I'll get it done before the other plants grow too big and get in my way.

Eventually the newspapers will need to be covered with wood chip mulch. But for now I'm holding the paper down with bricks and stones!