Weeds here, weeds there, weeds are everywhere! The farmers bane. Whether it is the deep roots of curly burdock. Or the millions of henbit that seemingly pop up out of nowhere in the fall and spring. The garden can oftentimes be in dire straits when nature tries to take over. You’ve probably heard about weed control with mulch, weed control with sprays, weed control with cardboard or newspaper. Is there any best way to naturally control weeds in your garden? Farmer Nathan is here with a few tips to help you fight the good fight against the weedy invaders.
Where to begin – Planning
My favorite place to begin for natural weed control is even before you plant–planning. It can be too easy to prepare a large garden thinking of the incredible yields of produce. But reality is the weed yield is often just as good. By planning your garden, it gives you the control to set the size of the garden to fit your needs. I love this as it has the potential of decreasing the garden size and area that needs to be weeded.
To begin, plan out what you would like to grow in a given season based on what your consumption is. Do you like to freeze or can fresh produce? Or is this garden for fresh eating primarily? This can make the difference of planting 30 tomato plants versus 4 tomato plants and greatly impact your weed load.
Next I like to figure out how to maximize plant spacing. This is especially effective with leafy greens and root crops. but more challenging with tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers which like to take over the world. The less square footage being used the less weed control with mulch is needed. One word of caution with the greens and root crops is not to plant them too close together. If the plants are too close, the crops won’t be able to fully mature, leading to smaller yields.
Weed control with mulch
The earth likes to be modest and keep herself covered. Weeds are one of her favorite methods to quickly cover herself. We have become accustomed to having open soil beds that we plant crops into and fight the weeds all season long wherever soil is exposed. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case! For this is where mulches come into play.
Mulches can be any plant-based material that is used to cover the soil. I love to use fresh compost as a mulch around crops that spread along the surface of the soil or for crops that are planted closely together. Radishes, turnips, carrots, arugula, and lettuces all love the compost mulch.
Compost
The key component to success with using compost as mulch is to make sure your compost pile got warm enough to kill weed seeds. If you can get your compost pile above 122 degrees F., most weed seeds will be killed! Another bonus to using compost is it offers an added nutritional boost to your crops. To help heat up your compost pile, you can add some lime to it. You can find this in most garden centers or your local Lowes, Home Depot, or Menards. This will help break down the brown and green matter much quicker into black gold.
Woodchips
Wood Chips are great to use as a weed control mulch. They are inexpensive or free, readily available in many locations, and are completely biodegradable. There are a few things to note when using wood chips. Wood is a source of carbon, which draws up nitrogen and can actually suck it up from the soil!
This makes it challenging to use as nitrogen is vital for the health of most crops we grow in our gardens. To combat this, I like to use cardboard that doesn’t have any ink underneath the wood chips. This creates a buffer between the soil and the wood chips. It enabling the plants to get established while providing a great food source for worms and other soil organisms.
A great way to begin using wood chips risk-free is to place them on all of your paths and isles. Depending on your design, pathways and isles in a garden can use up to 40% of the land space! Since we desire no plants to grow in these areas, the carbon imbalance can actually be a helpful tool to prevent weeds from growing. I like to still use cardboard as it helps the wood chips to last longer before you need to replenish.
Where to find them?
Do be careful of the source of your wood chips as some tree companies do not let you know or take note if there was poison ivy on the trees. If that makes it into the mulch, all of the oils from poison ivy can be in the mulch making it a source of contracting poison ivy. I have personally had poison ivy several times and it is no fun to deal with! Chip Drop is a free app that I love to use as you can request free wood chips and specify instructions as needed. Response is fairly quick at times and the volume of wood chips can vary as you need.
Keep in mind
One last note on wood chips is the type of tree it comes from. For instance, pine trees are quite acidic in nature and inhibit other plants from growing. This is one contribution to pine forest under canopies to being so pristine. Similar to in the forest, pine wood chips can inhibit the growth of vegetables in your gardens by making the soil too acidic. If you have just blueberries which enjoy acidic soils, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Secondly, walnut wood chips add a compound to its surroundings that inhibits plants from growing. I remember taking note as a young lad how even grass can have a hard time growing under walnut trees. This is not desired in the garden and I suggest staying away from wood chips from walnut mulch when possible.
This makes maple and oaks in particular good sources for a natural weed control mulch as they have a fairly neutral effect on the soil biology. I have also used magnolia trees from the south eastern United States and poplar or aspen trees from the north with great success. If you are making your own wood chips, I like to observe the plants under the trees. If there seems to be poor growth, it may be something the tree is contributing to the micro ecosystem there.
Cardboard
Another option is to simply use cardboard by itself, which I have tried with good success as well. One downside I learned quickly though is the wind likes to blow the cardboard around, making it challenging to keep in place. Cardboard also attracts molds and mushrooms, which can make it slippery to work on as well. For this reason, I found that using both the cardboard and wood chips to be a beautiful combination to counteract the disadvantages that both mulch options present. If you find wood chips hard to find, cardboard is a great alternative. Simply use some weights such as bricks or metal stakes to secure it to the ground.
Artificial mulches
I have seen recently a huge increase in the use of landscape fabrics in both home gardens and market gardens. They are both very effective and easy to use, but can be expensive. The downside is they are a petroleum based product that does deteriorate over time creating additional waste that doesn’t decompose at landfills. When I use any artificial mulches, I like to use the longest lasting offered to help reduce the amount of waste being created.
One area that I greatly appreciate landscape fabric in particular is the perimeter of the gardens. Here is South Carolina, we have lots of bermuda grass which loves to creep into and take over gardens. By having a 3-foot strip of fabric surrounding the perimeter, it gives me a clean edge to mow next to reducing the need for weed whacking. It also provides a barrier to some creeping weeds as well.
When I do use landscape fabric, I like to lay it over the garden bed and cut X’s in the fabric where I want to plant transplants or seeds. This type of cut makes it possible to fold the fabric out of the way when planting and tuck it around the plant once it is established to eliminate weeds around the base of the plant. To help hold the landscape fabric in place, I like to use metal stakes to secure it.
If you are using landscape fabric or plastic mulch, check out our free template for precise hole cutting to maximize your space!
Weeding tools
Even with all the weed prevention we can do, weeds are sure to still pop up in the garden against our will. To counteract this, I have a couple of tools that have revolutionized weeding for me! When possible, I like to weed standing up to help prevent back issues. One thing I have realized as I grow older is the ground is not getting any closer.
For any isles not covered with mulch, I love to use the stirrup hoe for weeding. It is easy to use, has very little maintenance, and helps to keep your body in a good balanced position. When it comes to weeding in your rows, I think it is hard to beat the wire hoe or collinear hoe by Neversink Tools. They are well constructed, you only need one handle for all your weeders and are very effective. Check out our list of other tools to see if they may help you!
I hope some of these tips and tools are helpful to you and your quest for weed control for your garden! Happy growing. 🙂