Weed control. One of the banes of vegetable gardening, especially if you want to use organic weed management methods. Thankfully there are some great ways to conquer the weeds! We’ve tried quite a few different methods over the years and have settled on using the weeding tricks and methods below as a sustainable way to manage weedy invasion. We hope our favorite tools and methods for organic weed control work just as well in your vegetable garden.
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Wire Hoe
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! A wire hoe is our absolute favorite tool for preventing a weedy garden take over. Running it through the top layer of exposed soil regularly (at least once a week!) will catch “thread stage” weeds. This is when the soil looks weed-free, but don’t be fooled into complacency. Weed seeds are busy germinating beneath the soil!
What the wire hoe does, is it catches the little wiry weeds before they pop up through the soil. After pulling it through a section, you’ll see what looks like lots of little roots on the hoe that you can just dust off knowing you prevented the latest round of germinating weed seeds from popping up.
The wire hoe does great to catch a significant portion of possible weeds before they get so large that you have to pull them out by hand. So regularly pulling it through the soil is a great part of an organic weed control system.
Mulch – Smother the weeds
Mother earth is modest, and doesn’t appreciate bare naked soil. So she tries to cover up and the fastest way to achieve that is with weeds. But we gardeners and farmers can also cover up the soil! While we may be used to more traditional row gardens with bare soil in the rows and aisles, mulch is a great way to cover up as much unused soil as possible and limit the areas that need weeding all growing season.
For natural mulches, compost, woodchips, and cardboard are all great options. All three are laid on top of the soil to prevent weeds from popping up or smothering the young ones beneath a heavy layer of organic matter. We’ve written more about various mulches for weed control in a previous post, so you can check it out for more details on using this organic weed control tool in the garden.
Crowd out the weeds
Along the lines of mulch, another way to ensure the bare soil is covered is to interplant crops or companion plants. Interplanting (also known as intercropping) is when you plant more than one crop per row. For example, planting carrots or radishes underneath tomato plants. This does two awesome things. First, it allows you to grow more food in a small space. Second, the interplanted crop crowds out the weeds and keeps the soil covered. A win-win!
Companion planting works along similar lines, but these plants are planted with the intention of attracting beneficial insects, repelling pests, or adding nutrition to the soil. For example, planting marigolds or mint to ‘mask’ the smell of tomato plants and keep them hidden from the tomato hornworm. Some companion plants like ryegrass can even help suppress weed germination by releasing allelopathic compounds into the soil! For the science behind companion planting, we love the book Plant Partners: Science-based Companion Strategies for the Vegetable Garden by Jessica Walliser.
Eat the weeds
Ever feel like giving up and not weeding? Us too, the good news is that some of the common plants we think of as weeds in the garden are actually edible or have medicinal properties. Learning how to eat the weeds is a great way to turn a problem into a solution. Chickweed, lambsquarter, dandelion, nettle, purslane, sorrel, and more are all edible greens. So before you pull out all of the weeds, check to see if you can eat them. We like the book Body into Balance to learn about medicinal benefits of various herbs and “weeds.”
Note: Before eating your weeds, make sure you’ve 100% sure you’ve identified them correctly.
Burn them all!
You’ve probably seen some version of vinegar, salt, and dish soap spray circulating around the internet that promises to kill off your weeds in 24hrs. I know I saved my fair share of recipes to Pinterest boards! While I’ve tried a few of them, the results were a mixed bag. The main downside is it only kills above ground growth. So things like grasses (rampant in our garden) can bounce right back after an application. Plus vinegar is non-selective, which means if you accidentally spray your cucumbers, they are going to die back too. Oh, and too much salt over time is not good for the soil either. While it’s better than applying herbicide willy nilly, it doesn’t top our list of weed control management.
For areas where we want everything to die back (think cracks in the driveway, paths, etc.) We’ve made use of boiling water. If you’ve ever steamed greens for dinner, you know that good ol’ H2O can wilt leaves real fast. When we do this method, we fill up our kettle on the stove and then walk around the yard pouring scalding water straight from the kettle. Not practical for large areas, of course, but a good way to get rid of those pesky weeds in random places.
Or you can burn them with literal flames. A flame weeder works well on small weeds where a brief exposure to the heat will cause them to wilt and die. But similar to the vinegar spray, it works best on annual weeds as perennials can regrow from their deeper roots in the soil. Working with fire though, some precautions do need to be taken–don’t flame weed large dead material that may ignite and avoid doing it during dry spells. Also might want to check local ordinances as some areas ban their use due to wildfire risk.
Hand Pulling
I know, I know, you’re probably reading this article because you want to avoid getting on your hands and knees in the garden. Unfortunately no matter how many preventative measures you take or fancy smancy tools you buy, there will still be some weeds that just have to be pulled up by hand. You’ve probably noticed a theme here, all these organic weed control methods work best by catching weeds early when they are small. Hand pulling is just for the ones that got missed via the other methods.
Hand pulling weeds doesn’t have to be a drag though! Here are a few ideas to make hand pulling weeds less of an onerous chore.
- Divide your garden into 5-7 zones and weed just one smaller section each day.
- Alternatively, set a time for 10-15 minutes and quit when it rings
- Listen to a favorite podcast or playlist
- Find a good garden seat or kneeling pad to make it more comfortable.
- Invest in a nice pair of gloves
Hope all these tips and organic weed control ideas help you find more joy and less weeding in your vegetable garden this year.
