Keeping On Top Of Weeds

I’m sure we’ve all heard the old saying that weeds really are just plants growing where you don’t want them to. Unwanted volunteers (or weeds) can be easily controlled with just a few minutes each week. A hoe makes shallow cultivation very easy, without disturbing your precious vegetables.

Weeds are quite easy to pull when they’re small, especially if they’ve grown through thick mulch – plus they are far less likely to germinate under thick mulch in the first place. So that’s my number 1 tip – always mulch heavily!

Some other ways to quickly get rid of weeds are:

• Build a compost heap over them – the heap will heat up and everything underneath will “cook”. Move it to the next patch when it has matured and grow vegetables where the original heap was.
• If you have a larger area, build a raised bed over the area. Fill it with layers of good soil, compost and mulch. Any weeds that manage to survive this treatment and poke through the top will be easy to remove.
• Grow a patch of potatoes over them – they end up smothering out other plants when heavily mulched.

BUT, it’s not always such a bad thing having some weeds in your garden. “WHAT?” I hear you scream. Well it’s true. There are a number of benefits for having weeds in your garden.

Firstly, many weeds attract beneficial insects – that is insects that prey on pests that might be causing problems in your garden. Some weed flowers are a food source for insects such as hoverflies, bees and wasps. These beneficial insects eat aphids and other pests. Can you see how it could be a good thing to have them on your team? Besides, it’s always easier to work with Mother Nature, than against her. And after all, that is the premise of organic gardening.

Secondly, if you do some research you will find that many plants that may now be considered weeds, were once considered food. These include dandelion, horseradish, nettles – and yes, they are still quite edible. My mother makes a great veggie soup, and with the addition of nettles means it will be rich in iron.

And thirdly, some weeds are really deep-rooted. They excel at mining minerals from deep down in the soil, which are then stored in their leaves. You can use their leaves in your compost heap, where the minerals will then be released and made available to your vegetables as you add the compost to them.

Deep-rooted plants also help break up heavy soils, leaving tunnels when the plant dies and breaks down, for air and water to penetrate deeply.

You can either harvest their leaves by hand or you can mow them and then add them to your compost heap.

If you keep harvesting the leaves and don’t allow the “weed” to go to seed, you will eventually weaken them over the years and they will die. You just have to be vigilant and not allow the weeds to flower and produce seeds.