In spring, weeds become a nuisance, which they can-be-bane to our effort on our plants. More so, they’re responsible for stealing life-giving nutrients while choking off the life from flower and vegetable gardens. Weeds are also the answer as to why many gardeners throw hands up by the mid-summer and call it the year. Loosely defined, weed is an unwanted plant that shoots in your garden.
Despite the fact, they have beneficial properties, these scrappy plants still need to be kept in check — especially in an organic garden, where some tender crops can be overcrowded easily. Although it is impossible to prevent weeds from growing, you can ‘imply these tips that will keep them off to a reasonable stand.
Use traditional Organic Weeding Methods
While it’s true, Traditional Weeding technique is fairly physical to most of us gardeners; also it’s true that these practices have been utilized for decades – and they worked out well. Although, it’s hard to replace the old-fashioned hand-weeding with our regular hoeing system. But if you make-the-habit of running your Hoe of death between the vegetables occasionally, you will nail them while they are still small.
This will take a little effort on your side. And if it happens you can’t get to them on timely, do try before they seed. Yanking and pulling off on mature weeds tends to disperse their seeds all over for a future weed generations. Another organic weed-killing-technique is to pour some generous amount of hot boiling water onto immature weed. Roots will be affected and will kill them.
Start Practicing the Art of Cover Cropping.
Growing cover crops has many advantages not only in the organic garden but also in weed suppression. It eliminates weeds by protecting your bare garden over the late fall, winter spell and to an extend early spring months, before Tilling starts. They’ve obvious benefits to enhancing your soil’s vitality and acts as a barrier to a blowing seed that will otherwise enter and lay in wait.
Cover crops can be grown before the crop season, though most gardeners prefer after, to provide soil vitality and weed suppression during the off-season. After two or one seasons of cover crops – you’ll be amazed how little weeds will appear in your garden.
Use the Right Weeding Tool to Weed when Appropriate
Enact the old say, Pull when wet and Hoe when dry,’ which is wise advice, especially when facing down weeds. Just after a drenching rain ends, have the right weeding tool and equip yourself with a tarp or Trug for collecting the corpses, sitting pad, and gloves. As you head out, slip an old table-like fork into your pocket since there is nothing better in twisting out tendrils of chickweed or henbit.
When going after bigger weeds, go for fishtail weeder that will pry up tap-rooted weeds, such as dock or dandelion. When summer spell switch, weeds that are sliced below the soil, promptly shrivel up and then die, especially if you had used a sharp-edged Hoe.
Go for DIY Weed Killer As a Last Resort
Maybe you have heard that you can make your own do-it-yourself weed killers right at home. From salt to vinegar, there are many methods for killing those annoying weeds. Here are three reasons why DIY weed killers are beneficial for your garden:
- They keep your plants safe. Some synthetic weed killers can be effective at killing off weeds, but the price to pay is that they can kill off plants, too. DIY weed killers are made from natural ingredients that do not kill the plants, and instead just kill the weeds.
- They are environmental-friendly. Since synthetic weed killers are artificially-made, it can contribute to pollution and decreased cost-effectiveness for growing plants and other crops.
- They cost less money. Since DIY weed killers can be made using ingredients at home, it saves the time and money of having to go to the store and buying them.
Overall, just keep in mind that weeds will be alive no more with your own DIY weed killers.
- Practice 10 Minute-A-Day Philosophy
As the season changes and we head into winter, try to spend 10 minutes a day to work out the weeds. This is the biggest secrets to keep off all weed. This may sound crazy, but 10 minutes on a daily basis is as not like 70 minutes once a week. In fact, there’s a big difference between the two.
So, if you let your garden go for a day or more – roots get deeper, multiply and spread, and suddenly you’re overwhelmed. And what it takes a 10 minute a day can suddenly go to 4 or even 8 hours, if neglected for a week.
Conclusion–With the above clever groundwork now, then you can set-up your organic garden to be weed-free. A 10-Minute workout day philosophy is a good start, no matter what is in your garden. Stay vigilant, and uproot any surviving perennial weeds on a continuous basis. This approach isn’t arduous, but it takes a regular attention and dedication to start with.
About the Author–Shary Saunders is a blogger at sharycherry.com. Gardening and landscaping have been her passion for years. You can find Shary on Twitter at @SharySaunders
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This is what I am looking for when my garden is full of weeds. Thanks for your kind help!
You are absolutely correct that weeds and weeding are not very popular among many gardeners, so thank you so much for sharing these excellent green and natural tips for keeping weeds out of our organic gardens at the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I’m pinning and sharing.
HI Deborah,
I love gardening but hate the weeds. Thanks for sharing my tips and commenting. Have a healthy, happy & blessed day!
I tend to stay out longer than I planned, too, once I start pulling weeds (or doing anything else in the garden). I like your idea to pull a couple on your way to the mailbox. That does sound more manageable.
I mostly use mulch to help with weed suppression, but it only cuts down about 50% or so of the weeds. And the weeds love the benefits of the mulch as much as the other plants do, so if I don’t stay on top of pulling, they get huge! I love edible weeds, but there’s still only so many of them that I need. I bought oat and clover seeds — looking to try cover crops later this year.
HI Nikki,
I do the same things sometimes – 10 minutes turns into an hour. I use mulch too but depending on where you get your mulch you can get seeds of weeds in it at times, but it does help quite a lot. Mulch also helps to keep the moisture in the ground if you don’t have rain. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a healthy, happy & blessed day!
These are such good tips – I am a great believer in covering up to smother weeds and do try the 10 minute a day philosophy. I also sometimes just think that a few weeds aren’t a problem but that *may* simply be an excuse when they get ahead of me! #WasteLessWednesday
HI Rosie,
I like the 10 minute a day philosophy except I always find myself staying out longer than 10 minutes, but I do have a little trick I use for my flowers going up my driveway – when I go for to get the mail I always take a couple of minutes a pull a few weeks or my way up or down and it really makes a difference to stopping the weeds for getting out of control. Thanks for stopping by, and reading my article. Have a great day.
We lay cardboard down to kill off most of them, and they *should* get the pervasive ones by hand. I say *should* as we are choosing to start over with cardboard again this year. Whoops. Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Blog Hop!
HI Katy,
It is always best to get rid of weeds the natural and there are many ways we can do without pesticides or chemicals. Thanks for stopping by & commenting.
Great tips. I definitely need to stay on top of the weeds this year because who wants to spend one day weeding for hours?! Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop.
Hope my tips help you keep your weeds under control because they can really be a problem. Glad to be a part of Homestead blog hop.