Six Tips For Weeding Your Garden and Lawn

In a previous post, which plants are weeds? I wrote that weeds aren’t always a bad thing. They can inform us about the condition of our soil, the health of surrounding plants, and light and water conditions. Sometimes they’re even beneficial and serve purposes like attracting early season pollinators. But of course, no one gets away from garden weeding scot-free – there’s always some rogue, unwanted plants in our flower beds, vegetable beds, or lawns. Here are some ways I keep weeds under control.

1. Be a weed vigilante

Inspect your garden beds at least every other day. Get a grip on unwanted weeds before they choke out your new annuals, broccoli or potato seedlings and pull out a few at a time. This makes weeding a lot less daunting than when they completely overrun your garden.

 2. Use reliable weeding tools

There are many weeding tools, but few great ones. For those who like to get up close and personal with the weeds, I highly recommend the Cobrahead Weeder & Cultivator: It makes fast work of any weed, gets into tight corners, slices through thick roots, and doubles as a cultivator.

If you have a large plot to tend or have issues with your knees or back, use a Stirrup Hoe, also known as a Loop Hoe, Hula Hoe, or Action Hoe – this is one weeding tool I can’t live without. The long handle and sharp blade save my back and knees and speeds up weeding those invasive morning glories that pop up literally everywhere (why did I ever plant them?). The action of the stirrup hoe also aerates your garden bed, but use caution around plants with roots that grow close to the surface. Remember to pick up and compost the weed seedlings, as some plants like purslane can develop new roots from the sections you cut.

3. Use ground covers

In the flower garden or under trees, fill empty spaces between perennials with dense plantings of ground covers like dianthus, creeping phlox, bugleweed, stonecrop, or anything in the mint family (although mints may need to be controlled as they tend to take over). But make sure you plant native plants as ground covers that are adapted to your local climate and are appropriate for the light conditions in your garden.

A little bit of research will go a long way, as the right ground cover will require little in the way of watering or other maintenance, and will reduce the need for mulching. Read more: The landscape fabric weed barrier myth.

4. Control lawn weeds organically

In your lawn, weeds can be controlled without chemicals. Amend the soil with organic matter like compost and mulched grass clippings to increase fertility and drainage; apply corn gluten meal to suppress weed seed germination, and balance the soil pH to create optimum conditions for the grass seed you plant.

Much of your success will depend on the climate in your area, foot traffic, and the type of grass you plant, but the goal always is to create a thick lawn with grass growing so tightly that weed seeds are shaded out. For weed seeds, this limits access to soil, light, and water, and without all of those, the chances of germination are reduced. Grass will grow aggressively when the soil conditions are right and it will easily out-compete weeds. Read more about corn gluten meal for your lawn and organic lawn care.

5. Mulch in between perennials, skip the rototiller, and use companion plants

If you don’t use ground covers in your flower beds, add 2-3 inches of wood mulch in between plants and leave no bare soil (note that using ground covers is preferred so native bees can nest in your garden’s soil). Not only will mulch insulate the soil and help plant roots retain moisture, but it will prevent many weed seeds from germinating from lack of light. See this post on organic mulches to learn more.

In vegetable gardens, the best way to reduce weeding is to mulch open areas and plant densely with companion plants (such as tomatoes, onions, and basil in the same bed). A properly planted garden should look like a jungle in August, with tall plants and lots of foliage casting heavy shadows on the soil, creating less opportunity for weed seeds to germinate.

Embrace the no-till method of gardening and never rototill your soil. Weed seeds can stay viable for decades deep in the soil, but if they never come close to the surface, they’ll never germinate. It’s a waste of time to rototill your garden every year, as it destroys soil structure and does more harm than good. If weeds are a persistent problem in your vegetable garden, try cover crops over the winter or cover your beds with straw or another organic mulch when they’re fallow.

6. Learn what a weed looks like

The book Weeds Of The Northeast is a reference used by almost every garden center between the Virginias and Maine to answer questions from their customers like “I found this strange plant growing in my garden. Do you know what it is?”. On many occasions, it’s helped me identify mysterious plants growing in unexpected places and I refer to it often. It’s very well organized and loaded with pictures of weeds at various stages in their growth.

When you get your weeding technique down to a science, your garden becomes much more manageable and productive. But never forget this quote from an anonymous author: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” LOL.

 Buy on Amazon: Weeds of the Northeast