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Hand-to-hand combat with weeds

Posted on June 22nd, 2007 – 10:18 AM
By Connie Nelson

I took a summer solstice tour of my garden. A slow stroll, kinda checking things out. Most of my plants (give or take a few) are growing like gangbusters. So are the weeds.

I have an impressive crop of wood sorrel. (It’s lookalike, clover, is doing nicely as well.) Deadly nightshade is thriving in the boulevard garden. And the creeping Charlie? Boy, I had no idea it could worm it’s way into a thick mat of groundcover the way it has.

I’m not a chemical kind of gardener. So I’ve got to get on my hands and knees and weed, weed, weed. And I know I’ve got to do it now, before the buggers flower and form seeds. But instead of just jumping in, I’m trying to figure out if there’s one best way to weed.

Should I take a whole day and just go for it? Or should I nibble away at it? Should I move bed by bed or select one type of weed and eliminate it from the garden before moving on to the next?

I’m looking for advice here (and perhaps a bit of commiseration). How weedy is your garden? What are you going to do about it? Weed haters of the world unite!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 am and is filed under Weeds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

18 Responses to "Hand-to-hand combat with weeds"

povertyrich says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 11:55 am

I tend to nibble at it through the week, and then engage in more thorough weeding on Saturday or Sunday. The nibbling is more necessity than choice, though. If I don’t nibble at it through the week, I’d have nothing but morning glories growing out there.

hriffen says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm

I feel your pain. This year is my first year at gardening. I do feel like I am pulling weeds all the time. I think this fall I am going to try and treat my soil the “lasagna way” by laying wet newspaper down and then building up with layers of organic material. Does anyone have a recipe for an all natural weed killer?

Peter Hoh says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 1:09 pm

An all natural weed killer for use in the garden? Your hands.

Peter Hoh says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 1:13 pm

But the good news is that as long as you keep it up for a few years, eventually you’ll have fewer weeds to contend with. There’s a huge difference between my older beds and my new ones.

But you also have to deadhead your plants that self-seed, or else you’ll end up with perennial weeds. Even though I tried to keep up with deadheading my false sunflower last year, this winter was ideal for those seeds, and now I have a bed that’s think with it. Argh.

Connie Nelson says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 1:21 pm

Like Peter sez, there is no natural weed killer other than your hands. Mulch helps and the newspaper thing works, but you have to use a pretty thick layer. And,as with any mulch, a few weeds do make it through.

I don’t mind the odd weed here or there, but I think I’m bringing home some weeds in the plant I buy at nurseries. I’m sure that’s where the wood sorrel is coming from. Anybody had a problem with hitchhikers coming into your garden in potted plants?

Bluegingham says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I have to mainly commiserate with you on this one. I have lots of plantings including a sizeable vegetable garden which provide ample opportunity for weeds. I’ve found no quick fixes to this bane of all gardeners. When I water during the week I try to pick them out here and there but find that typically during the season I have to set aside a “weeding weekend” every so often and hit it full on to really do impact for getting the garden in shape. I say set a date, invest in a cushy knee pad, don a pair of gloves and dig in.

Connie Nelson says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 pm

Weeding weekend? Huh. Sounds painful, but like a good idea. Guess I’m gonna have to schedule one of those for my garden. Do you try to get out early? Wait for after a rain? Have a glass of wine waiting for when you’re done???

Bluegingham says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 3:07 pm

Mainly I try to wait for a day that isn’t too hot and get an early start. I don’t like to do after a rain because of all the mud. Also, enlist friends to help if you can. (It works every now and then with an offer of barbeque and beer!) When I’m done I totally relish a nice deep bubble bath, a glass (or two) of wine and dinner ordered in! It is a bit painful but worth it I think for the results you enjoy most of the season. Also, don’t forget that there’s no such thing as perfection. If you miss a stragler weed here or there so be it. I havent’ found them to ruin the overall effect for me. Good luck!

Beth B says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 3:47 pm

I do like to pick at it throughout the week, as my toddler enjoys his outside time. So the beds I work on are dictated by which toy has caught his eye. I like weeding after a gentle rain because they’re easier to pull, and I do think weeding is more effective (less breakage of the weed leaving root behind).

Once the boy is in bed and I can fully commit to the work, I do so with a glass of wine, which moves from one flat spot to the next to rest and keep me motivated as I go.

Finally, I am an imperfect weeder in that I prefer to let them get mid-sized (not new sprouts) to pull them becuase it’s easier and feels more productive.

To each gardener her own, I guess.

Teresa says:

June 23rd, 2007 at 9:41 am

I tend to do it for a few hours in the morning for several days in a row. It is like cleaning a really dirty bathroom; such hard work, but so rewarding when it is done and you can look and see how clean it is.

I used to have a garden in another yard that I got ahead of the weeds and they didn’t reseed, so there were less weeds each year. However, I now have my vegetable garden in an old cow pasture, so there is no way I will get ahead of those weeds and seeds! Good for great vegetables, but such a pain for weeds.

Peter Hoh says:

June 24th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

Connie, I suspect that you are correct about wood sorrel. I have some growing in one of my commercially grown plants that (shame on me) I have yet to put in my garden.

That said, isn’t it possible that you stir up some wood sorrel seeds when you put a plant into your garden?

Connie Nelson says:

June 26th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Great tips on weeding! I tend, like BethB, to wait until my weeds put on some size before I go after them. I’d like to be the kind of gardener who weeds when the weeds are still teeny tiny, but I’m not. I do have to get out there before they seed, tho. And that’s going to happen soon. Aiyeeeee!

Judybusy says:

June 26th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

A friend highly recommends having a gin and tonic WHILE weeding. I haven’t tried it yet, but I did have an iced coffee on hand earlier this week, and y’know, it was great. I usually sit around, drinking coffee while looking at the weeds, so this way I got my customary after-work treat and a clean bed.

This year I’m staying on top of my weeding because I have out of town cousins stopping by for a visit, and I want the garden to look as nice as possible. ‘Course, they’ll be at the house all of 18 minutes before we head off to the Mall of the Universe, but it’s proved a great incentive to weed! (I also entertain a lot so my house stays clean.)

The best thing I do is have my trowel handy to dig out stubborn ones so I don’t have to keep re-weeding the same plant. I also have my pruners handy to dead-head as I go.

Daria says:

June 26th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

If the weeds are really bad, vinegar will kill them. Just be careful not to get it onto your real plants. It is an all natural solution. You could also try flame weeding with a torch for that purpose, or a mini propane torch you can buy in a hardware store, but that’s rather environmentally unfriendly.

Connie Nelson says:

June 26th, 2007 at 5:04 pm

Does the vinegar thing really work for you? From what I’ve read, it does little more than burn some of the leaves of tender plants. I know that vinegar as a weed killer is being/has been tested, but it was only effective at high concentrations.

I’ve never tried the torch, tho I did burn half an azalea once. . . Not on purpose, of course.

laura says:

June 27th, 2007 at 3:58 pm

this year i made sure to very evenly spread out the manure compost i bought. i think it came with a bazillion cowgrass seeds in it. because i’ve never seen so much freaking cowgrass in my life! i’ve pulled my garden free if it 3 times already, and more is back, though finally i feel i’m making a dent and getting the roots out complete.

i tend to try to burn thru it in one day, but i have to take shifts out in the sun, bent over. i have a nifty short little garden rocker seat that is a great relief to my knees, but a person can only hack so much weed pulling in one sitting.

heres a picture of whats waiting for me right now. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/yesididit/plants/6-22-07071.jpg

Connie Nelson says:

June 28th, 2007 at 9:57 am

Gad zooks, Laura! That looks worse than my yard!

Did you use composted manure or fresh? I only use composted, but I’ve been hearing about some folks having trouble using manure that wasn’t composted. Anyone else have trouble with that?

laura says:

June 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm

the bags said manure with composted humus, which i think means the humus was composted, but the manure was not.

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