Organic Weed Controls in the Garden or Yard

Because they compete for space, nutrients, and the sun they mean bad news for any kind of food harvest or desirable flowering plants.

Most gardeners describe weeds as those tough, common, and invasive little plants that seem to spring up out of nowhere and were planted by no one. Loosely defined, weeds are any plant growing in a cultivated area that wasn’t intended by the gardener.

In the past, gardeners thought nothing of using products developed by companies whose extensive research on toxic chemicals created a whole host of sprays which eradicated weeds for good. The only problem was that they eradicated everything else in their path, as well. This included not only desirable plants, but wildlife and humans to boot. Not to mention the chemicals were absorbed by the plants that provided food for families.

Physical Barriers as Weed Prevention

Physical weed barriers can accomplish killing weeds or their seeds in two ways. One, they smother them both by keeping the sun from reaching them as well as sufficient air. Two, inorganic mulch such as black plastic can actually heat up the soil enough to kill the weed seeds before they get a chance to sprout. Another benefit to using any kind of mulch is that they tend to hold moisture in the ground which cuts down on watering, as well as the fluctuation of temperatures in the soil.

• Organic Mulch – These are mulches that are created by nature and are biodegradable such as bark, straw, wood chips, shredded leaves, and newspaper.
• Inorganic Mulch – Black plastic, landscape fabric, clear plastic, boards, carpet remnants.

Organic mulch can be placed in layers 3″-4″ thick on garden beds or areas such as shrub borders where there’s bare soil. This is often enough to smother most weeds and the one or two that do pop up, are few enough for the gardener to simply hand-pull. While straw has many valuable benefits to gardens, the heavier organic mulch such as the wood chips usually do a better job for weed control.

Newspaper is a popular organic weed barrier that just happens to also an inexpensive technique. The paper is laid 6 layers thick in between the rows of produce in a garden bed. Soil or an organic mulch is spread over the top to hold the paper in place as well as mask it. Eventually the newspaper breaks down and becomes organic matter for the soil. The gardener may repeat this a couple times during a growing season.

Inorganic mulch is the muscle as far as weed barriers go. Landscape fabric is top-notch for keeping weeds in another neighborhood. It can be made up of any number of materials, depending on the manufacturer, but all of these material have one thing in common; they breathe. Air and water can get easily reach the roots of the desirable plants that are planted through the fabric. The only drawback would be that it isn’t the most inexpensive way to go.

Black plastic is the poor man’s landscape fabric. It works the same way as far as weeds, but the gardener will need to poke scattered small holes in it for air and water to be able to get beneath the plastic. Both the fabric and the plastic may be used in two ways.

The preferred method is to line the entire garden bed or landscape planters with either one and then cut holes into the material to plant the desired produce, flowers or shrubs. On occasion, the barrier is an afterthought and it’s rolled out in between the plants that have already been planted. The second method is better than none at all.

Pre-Season Full Bed Technique

For gardeners who are have a garden bed they know they’re going to be using next season, this technique is perfect to get a fair shot at a weed-less garden. In the potential garden bed, layers of several physical barriers are put into place to not only smother the weeds, but to heat the bed up enough to kill the weed seeds entirely.

First compost is spread across the entire bed or manure (horse, rabbit, chickens) if it’s on hand. Next a thick layer of leaves, wood chips, straw or any other organic mulch is spread over the top of the compost. Then 6 layers of newspaper can be laid across the bed and black plastic tops it off as a cover for heat and to hold the giant sandwich in place.

The longer a bed sits with this type of treatment on it, the more weeds (as well as their seeds) will be killed. In the spring, the black plastic can be peeled back and the bed can be planted or crops may be planted directly through the plastic. Drainage holes will need to be punched throughout the plastic if it’s left in place.

Traditional Organic Weed Prevention

In reality, the very best weeding practices are the ones that have been proven over the centuries. Historical techniques used by farmers and food growers everywhere often have the best advice.

Nothing takes the place of regular hoeing or hand-weeding. Cultivate between food crops every week. Simply dragging a traditional hoe in between rows of produce will knock down small weeds that are just emerging. A variation of this is to use the stirrup hoe which has a no solid center, and slide it just underneath the soil line.

If there’s a chance that while pulling weeds small produce roots might be disturbed, scissors can be used in place of a hoe. Last, but maybe the most important weed tip is that timing is everything. The best time to pull or kill weeds is before they go to seed. As far as long-term prevention, this is probably the single most effective weed-rule in gardening.