divaqs's Blog

Weed Reduction Strategies
Jun 26, 2007 | 11:01 AM PST
Tags: weeds , weed control

One of my goals in gardening is to make things as easy to maintain as possible, which is a necessity for me since my whole yard of half an acre is planted as an edible botanical garden.

One of the biggest maintenance chores I have in maintaining a beautiful yard and garden is weeding. I can't foresee me ever being able to totally eliminate weeds, but I can minimize them.

Here are some of the strategies I am using to minimize weeds and to make the chore of weeding easier.

• I try to pull weeds early, especially before they go to seed and spread more. This means pretty constant vigilance on my part.
  As I walk around my yard, while admiring various plants or harvesting, I weed at the same time. I’ve come to recognize various weeds in their earliest stages, so I am able to pull them when they are still really small, when it is easier to remove them and long before they get to a stage of spreading new seeds.
  I believe that a few minutes a day of weeding things early means a whole lot of saved time later. It is much more pleasant to weed in the early spring when temperatures are cool, rather than in the heat of the summer when weeds have sunk their roots deep and are spreading their seeds for the following year.
  
  
• I try to reduce ways that new weed seeds can get into my planting beds.
  When possible, I use natural barriers to separate my plant beds from weed sources, such as gravel pathways, brick, edging, rock borders, fences, elevating the planting beds, and eliminating all weeds in nearby locations.
  
  
• I minimize soil compaction in my planting beds.
  This not only helps my plants, but also makes it a lot easier to pull weeds out. I try to keep my planting beds to a width that I can reach in to them from one side or another, or I put stepping stones in places to increase access without needing to walk on the planting bed’s soil. I’ve taught my kids to stay out of the garden beds and to use stepping stones. They still sometimes need reminders, but have been really great about respecting this.
  
  
• I try to reduce exposed dirt, where weeds can find a foothold to grow.
  In landscape beds with long-term perennials, I use wood chips or beauty bark in areas that my groundcover plants haven’t filled in yet. My goal is to have a living edible ground cover that stops weeds being able to get a foothold. In my vegetable and herb beds I try to use intensive square foot gardening, shutting out room for weeds to get in.
  
  
• I try to pull the whole weed out, in particular the root.
  Some weeds have a real knack for coming back from the roots. The ones I struggle the most with are blackberries, sorrel, and dandelions, all of which easily come back from root.
  
  
• Organic Pre-emergent Weed Control
  If I am really desperate, and I know I won’t be planting anything by seed in an area for at least a few months, I use a pre-emergent weed control that is an extract from corn. A pre-emergent works by not letting new seeds germinate in the area it is applied. I get my pre-emergent from GardensAlive, which is known as their WOW Plus or WOW Supreme products. It is considered organic, non-toxic, and completely safe for kids and pets, which is very important to me. My dog and cat have a tendency to snack on it if I am sloppy and leave any around for them to get into. My pets have had no ill affect by doing so. I guess this means I have unintentionally run this through animal testing.