Obey the 'half-hour rule' for stellar veggie gardens

Obey the "half-hour" rule for great veggies.

When I was a kid, I hated the "half-hour" rule. Enforced by my mom, the rule required me to spend a half-hour weeding the vegetable garden every day. I did everything possible to get around the rule because I lived to play baseball.

After breaking the rule a few times by skipping my weeding sessions, I quickly learned the value of the rule. At that age I didn't understand that weeds compete with the vegetables for moisture, nutrients and sunlight. I also didn't understand that weeds can serve as alternate hosts for disease and pest problems. I did understand that if I didn't do it, I'd end up spending a long day of backbreaking work under close supervision by mom trying to get the weedy mess back under control. So take it from me: Obey the half-hour rule.

It'll make your mom happy and save you hours of hard work, and by staying ahead of the weeds, you'll end up harvesting delicious, nutritious home grown veggies that will make you so strong and healthy, you might even make the all-star team.

Rein in container spillers

Container gardening is fun and low maintenance because the containers rarely need weeding. A horrendous maintenance problem can occur, however, if you allow vines that spill over the edge of the pot to make contact with, and take root in, garden soil or the lawn.

Several of the typical spiller plants, such as Hedera helix (English ivy), Vinca minor (periwinkle) Lamium maculatum (dead nettle) and worst of all, Glechoma hederacea (creeping charley, or ground ivy) quickly root if they make contact with soil. Once they become established, these tenacious vines can take over the garden or invade the lawn and become almost impossible to eradicate.

Locate containers on concrete away from garden soil and lawn areas, or if you must place them adjacent to soil, regularly cut the spillers back to keep them from reaching the ground. Most important, if any of the spillers do escape, dig them up before they gain a solid foothold, even if it means removing plants or part of your lawn in the process.

Control dandelions safely

Most home gardeners use chemical weed killers such as weed and feed to rid their lawn of dandelions, but it's best to avoid these products as they contain chemicals that could be harmful to pets and children. Digging those pesty dandelions out doesn't work that well either. Most dandelion digging tools leave unsightly holes that can lead to a bumpy lawn, plus they usually cut the root resulting in two for the price of one when the weed inevitably grows back.

My favorite method is to blast them with straight white vinegar from the grocery store. This method only works on a hot sunny day. Set your sprayer nozzle on a coarse setting and don't be stingy with the vinegar.

The problem with this method is that vinegar will kill the grass. Wait a week, pour some water on the dead spot to dilute any lasting effects of the vinegar, poke a bunch of holes and drop grass seed in, sprinkle a bit of lawn-starter fertilizer over where the seed is planted and keep the area moist. In three weeks you won't remember where the dead spot was and the dandelion will be long gone.