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“If you’ll learn and practice a consistent, organic garden weed control program you can enjoy a virtually weed free garden!”

Weeding is NOT one of my favorite gardening chores, but it is a neccesity. In this essay learn some tips and tricks to make this chore a little easier on you, your time and your back.

First and foremost…before you consider using herbicides, try these natural approaches to garden weed control.

Weeding a garden…no matter how you approach it does require persistence on your part, but if you consistently nip those weeds as soon as they crop up, over time you’ll find that fewer and fewer of these peskyinvaders will be found. 

The first tip of  organic weed control, refrain from ever tossing pulled weeds into your compost pile.  Bag up those weeds up and get rid of them! Never ever mix them or use them as mulch.

The next tip… as soon as spring is coming on strong, take advantage of mild cool mornings and go out in the garden and start plucking the weeds from every area of the garden.

Create a plan of action and tackle one area at a time. Use one bucket to sit on and another bucket with a handle to carry to the trash. 

Your garden weed control program must be repeated at least once a week in most gardens.

The faster you get them out, the quicker you’ll reach the virtually weed free goal. Some weeds put out long tap roots quickly and you know what happens then don’t you?  Well, the root breaks off and will comes back stronger than ever!

If you get a jump on weeding early then just a few weeks after the arrival of hot summer days, you’ll notice a definite decrease in the number of weeds.

You’ll notice this decrease of weeds and areas that were the worst will take less time to weed. Your garden weed control program is starting topay off– your starting to save time for other gardening projects!

Mulching as a weed preventer.  In these water conscious times, more gardeners are seeing the value of mulching. Yes, a layer of mulch helps the soil to retain water, but it also doubles as a weed interupter. If you’ll spread mulch about 2-3 inches thick, it tends to block out the needed sunlight weeds need and it helps suffocate any would be weed.  You may still see one pop up, but it will be much easier to pull – root and all!

Consider installing an automatic watering system.  Most gardeners prefer using drip feeders or flat strips of finely perforated hosing.  This allows you to water right at the base of the plants you want to grow and will help starve and depleat the areas of soil where weeds tend to take over.  

Also,  slow, deep watering makes your plants more vigorous and helps save water.

Note:  In a recent article we talked about Native plants used to conserve water…you may want to check it out here.

When to water?  The best time to water is early in the morning. Watering in the middle of the day can shock your plants, flowers and vegetables, while wasting water that evaporates quickly. Watering too late in the day is an invitation to molds.

Raised beds usually mean that you’ll naturally enter into the organic garden weed control objective.

Because garden soil always contains weed seeds, you always deal with more potential for weeds.  In raised beds you probably will use nursery soil and composted amendments plus fertilizers to fill them.  This will mean that you’ll be starting from a baseline soil that will produce a lot less weeds.

Raised beds are also easier to care for, as you can sit comfortably on the edge of the bed, instead of crouching for hours.

In conclusion, keep in mind that  the real secret to the whole garden weed control strategy is that you must remain unrelenting in your weekly weeding and remember to apply fresh mulch as soon as the weather warms.

If you follow these tips, by mid-summer, you will have control over the weeds and a virtually weed free garden will leave you with more time to enjoy other home and garden activities.

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