The Garden Journal

(Excerpt from a Facebook post)

I was having a conversation the other day with a gardener from Tennessee, who was asking me about weed cloth, also known as landscape fabric, and whether we use it on the farm. I responded that we have eliminated all of it from our growing practices, and was promptly asked: “How do you control weeds then?”

Control weeds. Hmmmm. That one got me thinking.

Control is an interesting word. It’s a strong word, that implies Mastery, Power, and Influence. I wonder how the weeds feel about that…

Controlling our yards, gardens, landscapes, vegetable patches, whatever you grow, is a concept that chemical companies throw around a lot to get you to buy their products. News flash: it’s not working. We are never going to win this war.

But: we can MANAGE our weed populations, and over time, diminish the cyclical weeds that show up. Hint: It is NOT by using something in a can, bottle, or bag.

Our Pest Management Strategy (also called IPM, short for Integrated Pest Management) is twofold: first to identify the most noxious, or problematic weeds in our landscape and manage those according to their lifecycle and growth habit. Secondly, to imply a series of techniques to avoid or restrict weed growth from happening.

For us, rhizomatous, perennial weeds are the first line of defense. Hurting, or stopping their ability to spread, and seed in number one priority. These include Canadian thistle, bindweed, morning glory, Himalayan blackberry, grasses, and clover, which can choke out our plants and grow up to 30 feet in one season! These pests spread both asexually, through runners, and sexually, through seed, double whammies that can quickly take over a garden. Keeping an eagle eye on all of our growing spaces is a practice to first sight these plants, then it’s all hands on deck to pull out every bit of the plant we can, followed by frequent monitoring , and continuing to hand pull until we have eliminated the problem patch. For some of these weeds, this can take up to several years of being diligent. It’s the same amount of time, if not more, using chemicals, so we opt for pulling to not have to deal with chemicals. These weeds go into our waste bin.

Next is the annual weeds, which have their own rhythm and cycles. Hand pulling them when as small as possible is the key to minimizing soil disturbance. To me, these are less offensive, and easier to manage, as long as we get to them before they seed out. We have found a few to actually be “beneficial”, as pest insect trap crops, so we actually leave them for the aphids, and let them seed out for the following year. We can live with a few weeds that work with us.

Here are a few things you can (and should) do in your own gardens to help manage weeds:

Avoid soil disturbance. As little tilling, digging, even walking on your soils as possible Every disturbance disrupts the weed seed bank and introduces a new population of weeds.
Cover your soils. With plants, ideally. They photosynthesize, host biodiversity, capture carbon…and they can prevent wind or animal-born seed from gaining a foothold when there is no space or sunlight to germinate. Besides, plants are much prettier than weeds.
Mulch your soils. Weeds like poor soils that are lacking in nutrients. Compost your gardens. Then cover heavily with wood chips. It makes a huge difference.
As an English gardener told us in is virtually weed-free garden: “Never let a weed grow past Sunday.” Be diligent in your weeding (it doesn’t have to be hours every day) and you will stay on top of the weeds.