Is there such a thing as a no-weed garden? No-weed vegetable gardens are the hallmark of a woman named Ruth Stout, who invented a gardening method that feeds the soil while reducing weeds.
When I was taking my Virginia Master Gardener course, I learned about a woman named Ruth Stout. Ruth was a character to be sure. She claimed to have known Carrie Nation in prohibition-era Kansas, to have smashed up saloons, and more. She espoused a system of gardening that relied on very thick layers of organic mulch to nourish the soil and prevent weeds.
No-Weed Gardening Using the Ruth Stout Method
- How to Start Your First Vegetable Garden
- A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Vegetables from Seeds
- Free Online Vegetable Garden Planning Tool
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
That’s one thing I hated about gardening. Weeding. Nice trick.
Liz A. from Laws of Gravity
I’ve seen that method used around here, though whether or not it’s being used as a weed suppressor or as a soil enricher I’m not sure.