Organic weed control

organic weed control for vegetable garden

How to get rid of weeds with home-made herbicides and other natural methods

It is a fact that weeds cannot be prevented 100%.

But it is a fact that you can control, control or kill these unwanted violations by home herbicide or other organic weed methods.

Safe weed control

When I started my horticulture business more than twenty years ago, I sprayed a lot of chemical herbicides. They were a quick fix to many weed problems, so I understand their appeal in that regard. But, from that time on, how these materials persist in the soil, pave the way for groundwater, and affect beneficial soil life and the humans and other animals exposed to them. I have avoided using synthetic chemical herbicides for the last fifteen years because I do not want to be around them and, frankly, I have found other methods of safe weed control.

I avoid using those homemade herbicides that are often advertised on various websites and social media sites. They always contain salt, vinegar, Epsom salts, soap, or other household products, and the sad fact is that these compounds are absolutely dangerous to soil health. Yes, they can repel weeds a bit (they sometimes kill them completely), but when you have the most effective organic weed control tips you can use it is definitely not worth contaminating your soil. Not to mention that these products have not been properly tested for their safety or effectiveness.

12 Effective Organic Weed Control Tips

Tip 1: Design weeds from the garden.

Begin your quest for earth-friendly weed control using good design to prevent weeds from entering the garden first.

Choose fungus-resistant plant species that leave a little closer space and give less space for weeds to find a home.

Design the garden so that there are not too many empty spaces to pick weeds.

Use different tall plants to create shady layers of soil, creating an undesirable environment for weed seed germination.

Use mixed ground covers to cover the bare soil where many weeds prefer.

Organize the vegetable garden so that there are fewer growing plants covering the bare soil around the taller species.

Grow a dense, healthy lawn free of weeds.

Note 2: Cultivate carefully.

 Although cultivating your soil frequently can destroy its dye and texture, using a shovel to cut the young weed seedlings as soon as they germinate prevents them from maturing. Do not grow or cultivate too deep or they will germinate quickly at the risk of bringing buried weed seeds to the surface of the soil. Growing simple, old-school weeds is one of the easiest organic weed control tips. Here are some of my favorite tools for weed cultivation

Swan neck hoe

Hoe

Flat hoe

Tip 3: Topping

Easy, yet very important, in my organic weed control tips, topping is often overlooked by gardeners who, despite their best efforts, could not stay ahead of the weeds. This is a simple rule: do not leave a weed seed. Weeding includes pruning before flowering and seeds and topping even if you do not have the time or energy to dig up the entire weed. This is very important to reduce the number of weed seeds in the soil (called the weed seed bank). Whether you are dealing with annual weeds like crabgrass, trefoil, lambs, and purslane or with perennial weeds like Canada thistle and dandelions it is essential to get the top spot. Cut the plants or cut the weeds before using the seeds or use a hand scythe to cut the growing seed heads.

Tip 4: Mulch things. 

Suppressing weeds with a mulch layer is undoubtedly one of the best organic weed control tips. But, mulch will only work if you do it right.

At the beginning of the season, mulch before the annual weed seeds germinate. I spread my mulch in my Pennsylvania garden in late March or early April. If you wait too long, the weed seeds have already germinated and they will grow through the mulch layer.

Do not mulch until all the existing weeds have been removed. This means taking the time to pull or remove all the weeds, not throwing mulch over them. A layer of mulch does not suppress existing weeds; As the season progresses they will grow through it.

Weed Use only mulch from a non-existent and reliable source, otherwise, you may introduce more weeds into your garden. I use commercially made leaf compost in my vegetable garden and perennial beds and shredded hardwoods in my shrub beds.

Use straw not a mulch straw. Straw is the dry stalks of wheat or other grains and is usually weed-free, but consists of straw-mixed fodder and often many weed seeds. I like to use a straw to mulch the paths of my vegetable garden.

Never use treated lawn clippings. When making a large mulch for the collected grass-clipping vegetable garden, do not use them if the ground is treated with herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Do not mulch excessively. No matter what type of mulch you use, two to three inches is enough. If you accumulate too much, it can block air exchange with the soil and the roots of your plants.

Note 5: Newspaper restrictions.

 As described in Note 4, mulch is a simple layer, which sometimes does not do the trick, especially in areas where weeds are high or where there are large amounts of seeds in the weed seed bank. In this case, I always work with the newspaper among my best organic weed control tips. Before spreading the mulch, I covered the bed with a layer of ten sheets of thick wet newspaper. Do not use glossy inserts, as any matte newspaper will do, because the ink may contain heavy metals.

Every year, my entire vegetable garden is covered with newspaper, and then I cover the paper with a two-inch layer of leaf compost before planting. I simply cut a hole or cut through the newspaper and plant through it. I do not weed in my vegetable garden throughout the summer. Again, make sure the newspaper does not contain the mulch you use. At the end of the growing season, the newspaper soil will be broken down by microorganisms

Note 6: Fertilizer monitoring.

 If you plan to use homemade compost in your garden, the most important organic weed control tips are to carefully monitor your compost pile and its contents. Do not add weed-bearing weeds to the pile unless you plan to turn the pile at least once a week. If you pour materials into your compost pile, you will probably not reach the 160 degrees FI pile needed to kill most weed seeds unless you constantly turn them on to introduce oxygen to the microbes.

Tip 7: Look at the import.

 A lot of weeds in the garden come by accident. Do not accept plants dug in a friend's garden until you have confirmed that there is no weed problem that you can inherit. I once planted a daily section from a friend. You should pay the same attention to the plants you buy from the nursery.

Note 8: Tarping

This was only effective in my organic weed control tips, especially to control perennial weeds. I used this to remove a link in Japanese thistle, Canada thistle, and pineweed infection. First, cut out all the weeds in the ground, then spread the dark-colored streak all over the area and tie the edges completely with soil. Leave the roots of the weeds to starve for several months. This is not a technique I use lightly as it can negatively affect soil life; Store only for hard weeds.

Note 9: Flame weeding.

It's so much fun in all of my organic weed control tips! Also, it can be very useful for weeds growing in fence rows or in cracks in a patio or driveway. Flame weed hand-held or backpack-style propane torches are designed to wipe out weeds with heat high enough to explode the cell walls of plants. The flame can be adjusted to a very short, target range, so be careful, you can use them between rows of vegetables. Although they do not completely destroy the roots of perennial weeds, they do an excellent job of removing annual weeds and preventing the sowing of perennial seeds. Plus, using them is a lot of fun!

Tip 10: Organic pre-existing herbicides.

If the weeds you are fighting are primarily annuals, the use of an organic pre-existing herbicide, such as Crab Cross, Sequined, Henbit, Purslane, and others, will often take care of the problem. These granular products made from corn gluten are sprayed on the surface of the soil, where they form a layer that prevents all seeds from germinating (including the desired seeds, be careful not to use them where you want to grow from seed). If they are used according to the label instructions, organic advanced herbicides will greatly reduce weed seed germination.

Tip 11: The right kind of hand-pulling.

I do not know that most gardeners have a lot of fun pulling hands, but if you use the right tools, it's! Yes, you can climb on your hands and knees and use a trowel, hori, or some other type of weed to dig up the weeds, but it's retreating and not fun. Instead, there are some useful tools that can be a lot of fun pulling weeds (and you have to be upright!).

My favorite is the Fiskers stand-up weeder, which has steel serrated nails from the base of the weeds. You simply position the nails over the weeds, step on the footpad to press the nail into the soil, and then bend the handle again to expel the hand. The nails catch weeds and a simple slide of the handle pulls the weeds out of your collection container. I always use this tool! It works like a charm.