Weeding. If there's one part of gardening that I don't enjoy its the weeding. The
constant, constant weeding. But there are a few ways to lessen the amount of time
spent weeding in the garden and actually enjoying the garden instead. So I'm going
to share a few of the tricks that I use to cut down on weeding in the garden. The
first tactic I like to use in weed control is solarization. So this works
really well if you're trying to establish a new garden plot or just get
control of one that's out of control with weeds. I like to use big tarps or
that black weed barrier fabric, but anything that's gonna block out all of
the light is gonna help to kill off the weeds underneath. You want to leave this
on for, I'd say at least three weeks, the longer the better, and this tends to work
really well especially in the summer when that sun is really intense because
it burns off the weeds even more quickly. Now this will help kill off existing
weeds as well as some of the dormant weed seeds that are lying in the soil
especially the ones that are closest to the surface. Now it won't get rid of
everything but it will drastically cut down on the amount of weeds that you're
seeing. Now the next tactic that I like to use is a cardboard mulch. You can do
the same thing with newspaper and I like to utilize this in between my walkways
and paths, not so much in the actual garden beds. But it does do an excellent
job of cutting back weeds in the walkways. Now it's not the prettiest of
solutions so what I would usually do is then cover this up with another material
so... you can see here in my pathways I actually laid cardboard down on all of
these first and then went over these with a wood chip mulch and eventually
this will all disintegrate into the soil and need revamped but it does work to
suppress the weeds for quite a while. So here you can see I've done the same
thing with newspaper I've laid the newspaper down first and
then I'm covering it with some leaf mulch. Newspaper tends to be easier to
work with if you lay it down and then give it a good spray with a garden hose
that just kind of keeps keeps it down where it's supposed to be.
But basically you just lay it all out, spray it, and then cover it with grass
clippings, leaf mulch, woodchips, whatever you have on hand. One thing to keep in
mind with newspaper is you want to opt for matte black and white newspaper
prints don't use this glossy colored stuff in the garden. One other option I
like to use for walkways in addition to the wood chip mulch, if you have access
to weed seed free straw or agricultural hay it's a really nice option especially
if you're doing a kind of no-till row type setting because as that straw or
hay biodegrades it's gonna add a lot of nice organic matter to the soil and if
you apply it in thick flakes it really does a bang-up job of suppressing weeds.
Now in terms of what I like to use in my actual beds around my plants-- we're on a
partially wooded lot so we have a lot of leaves dropping in the fall. Luckily we
have a leaf shredder/bagger attachment on the mower so in the fall we can just
go around and collect all of those leaves. We usually put it in a big pile
and just kind of let it set through the fall in winter and in the spring I can
pull up scoops and apply it to my garden beds. Another option I like to use is
grass clippings-- so same thing you use that attachment and collect the grass
clippings, making sure to mow before any weeds have put up seed heads because you
don't want to be adding more weed seed to your garden. But just collect that in
a pile and whenever I need it I can come in and put that mulch
around the plants. Now a new option I'm going to try out this year are these
cocoa bean hulls. So these are the leftover hulls from the cocoa beans
obviously and you can see it's just a real fine light layer
and it does smell like chocolate I kind of want to eat these.
But interestingly enough I did not realize when I bought this it has pretty
specific directions for use. So you're actually supposed to apply and then
water these and apparently the water, the moisture makes them cohesive and they
kind of stick together to form a mat. So I'm not sure where I'm gonna utilize
these yet I'm thinking about more in my ornamental beds. And one thing to keep in
mind with the cocoa bean mulch is that it, dogs and probably other animals are
drawn to the smell and will tend to try to eat it so you may want to keep that
in mind if you've got dogs or other pets. I'm not sure if the shells are harmful
to dogs, you know you always hear that chocolate is not good for them to eat, I
don't know about the shells but I'm going to be using them in a place where
my dog can't get at them just to be safe. A few other things to keep in mind the
first being: mulch as soon as humanly possible after planting. So while you've
still got a fresh clean bed get mulch on there. The longer you leave soil exposed
the more opportunity weeds have to emerge, so if you can get it mulched right
away you're really going to cut down on that weed emergence a lot. The other
thing is to learn a little bit about the problem weeds in your area because it can
tell you a lot about your soil and what conditions you're dealing with. A good
example is Canadian thistle. Thistle tends to thrive in soil which is low in
calcium and manganese and high in iron, often the soil is compacted with poor
residue decay and dominated by anaerobic bacteria. Thistles have an aggressive
root system their main vertical root can reach 6 to
15 feet down into the ground and the roots can spread horizontally for over
15 feet in any direction. This makes it very easy for them to spread and fill up
an area. By improving the mineral imbalances and soil structure you can
often deter thistle growth and the same thing goes for all weeds if you can
reverse the conditions that they're thriving in it will
help to get rid of them in the long run. The other aspect is that by knowing
how a weed operates, so again the thistle as an example, when thistles are going
into flower they're using up enormous amounts of reserves from their root
system so mowing at that time can be lethal for thistle because if you're
mowing it down especially a repeated mowing at that time you're forcing it to
use every bit of energy reserve it has in that tap root and eventually it's not
going to be able to thrive anymore. Now if you want to learn more about the
specifics of weeds because there are so many and it's so specific to your area
there are some great books out there. This "Weeds Control Without Poisons" is
has been a very very useful reference this is by Charles Walters. And "When
Weeds Talk" by Jay McCammon is also a very useful reference guide. Now another
option to consider for weed control is using cover crops in the garden. So
you'll want to do again a little research on this and I will link some
really great resources in the notes below, but there are different cover
crops that are going to be your best option for particular seasons, particular
growing areas, and particular applications. So if you're looking for quick growth
and weed suppression in the summer things like buckwheat and sorghum Sudan
grass are going to be really great options. If you're looking for cover in
the fall and winter months you're going to look at something like a
rye, vetch, winter pea kind of a combinatio. You can look at fast growing
crops for weed suppression, you can actually look to cut those down and use
as a green mulch and you can inter plant between that as well. Now cover crops a
lot of times are referenced as I think people think of them on a large scale
plot or like on a farm or in a field, but it's really easy to utilize them in a
small-scale garden as well, even in like a raised bed scenario. I think buckwheat
is one of the easiest cover crops to get started with because it thrives in the
heat, it's extremely fast growing and the blooms
bring in pollinators as well- so it has a lot of benefits. Just as an example you
may have a raised bed that you grew, say your spring crops and your broccoli
cabbage things like that, you're gonna want to give that a rest through the
summer. You could throw a cover crop of buckwheat in there pretty easily and
even cut it down several times or do several successive sowings
and that's gonna keep weeds from taking over what would otherwise be an empty
space through a whole season. So let me hear from you! What are your tricks for
cutting down on weeds in the garden? I'd love to hear some new ideas. And if you
find content like this helpful please consider subscribing to my channel
Growfully with Jenna. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!