This weekend I went to battle with the weeds...and they almost won! After learning much more about aquaponics/hydroponics, I finally have a plan for my home garden. The best part is that I do not have work with my native dirt which includes a lot of clay. However, I still need to get the weeds under control. My neighbor was nice enough to dig up the grass two weeks ago as I shared on my Instagram 2 months ago!!! Granted, I wouldn't be going through this had I simply put down the landscape fabric over ALL the area instead of only a third, but alas I was busy. Or tired. Or lazy. In any case, I decided to finally finish the job this week so I can get some crops this year. I started by spraying the area with the vinegar and Epson salt concoction suggested by my hydroponics mentor John. His recipe was as follows:

1 gallon of boiled water
1 cup of Epson salt dissolved in said water
1 gallon of vinegar added to previous mixture

Spray on weeds. Cover with landscape fabric. Let 90+ degrees temperature cook/kill them.

I used a 4 gallon backpack sprayer to spray over the area.

I had about a 15' x 25' area to cover. Some of the weeds were nearly 3 feet high so I had to cut a lot back so that I could get the landscape fabric over them. I "thought" I was only going to spend about 45 minutes and ended up being out there for nearly 2 hours! The bad thing was I stayed out about 20 minutes too long without water in 95+ degree heat and felt sick later. In any case, I finished, so the weeds should be no more in a day or so. I'll be combing the Internet for free wood chips to use as a base for my 635 sq. feet area that I have designated for gardening. I will be working with the aquaponic endeavors of Bmore Aquaponics. You can donate to the project here. Stay tuned for the progress of this project!