Survey the weed situation from every angle—calmly, carefully, without prejudice if possible—but there is simply no getting around it.
Weeds are still weeds! They are unwanted plants that appear in every garden regularly.
Some Weeds Have Virtues
They are not till bad. Dandelions and lamb’s quarters provide early greens or a spring tonic for the table. But that offers no excuse for letting them grow in flower borders. Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) is as delicate for flower arrangements as any garden plant. But it is listed in weed books.
The brown seed heads of a sour dock (Rumex crispus) are to be collected by flower arrangers. But it is a perennial weed with a long taproot. It would sprout new growth and propagate through seeds if you did not remove the entire root.
Weeds may have virtues, but everything they say in their favor can speak much more against them. Weeds either control us, or we manage them.
The time to start combating weeds is when they tire short—when they first come up. At that time, no long tap roots have formed, nor seeds set. True, weeds look so innocent then.
A single grassy spear of foxtail doesn’t look like it could harm. It is easily rubbed away with a finger. But let it go a week, and you can hardly believe such a mass of growth came from that tiny blade. And there are countless others all over the garden.
Check perennial beds and borders early in spring, as soon as soil works. Loosen the soil between plants to kill all the tiny weed seedlings. Then apply a mulch, thick enough to discourage weed seeds from germinating.
Perennial weeds like sour dock and dandelion must remove the root, and all for many can grow through even a mulch of several inches in depth.
They Weeds Say Never Die
Some annual weeds retake root after you pull them. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a good example. It sends fleshy stems over the ground from a central root in all directions.
This weed can be killed easily when small, but when it i-eaches blooming size, the succulent stems can take root even after lying uprooted and upside down for several days. Rain or even a heavy dew will make new roots develop quickly.
Get them while they’re small and avoid this double trouble. Once seeds have formed (one plant may produce 50,000), they mature unless the uprooted plant is destroyed.
Each year I admire a particular vegetable garden that is practically weedless. The unbelievable part is that the owner spends little time keeping it that way.
It is a large garden including strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and many vegetables and vine crops. The asparagus, rhubarb, and berry crops are kept mulched with ground corn cobs.
Cultivating Cuts Weeds Short
After the vegetables are planted and up, the rows are cultivated after each rain. A wheel hoe is used, taking less time and strength than the conventional hoe. Little hand weeding is necessary if the soil is stirred between the rows after each rain. Weeds scarcely start growing, and if they do, they are killed when very young.
Long-season crops like tomatoes are also mulched. Early crops like peas are followed by succession crops such as sweet potatoes, leaving little idle ground to give weeds a toe hold.
You might think that if weeds are destroyed before seeds form, you would have a weed entirely-free garden forever. But some weed seeds live many years. Each seed container of Abutilon theophrasti (button-weed) has nine to 15 divisions, containing three to nine seeds. These may live more than 50 years.
Seeds are also brought in from the surrounding area to the garden. Seeds are carried considerable distances by the wind and birds. Some roots cling to clothes or animal hair and make their way to our gardens.
We must be constantly alert in this war on weeds. If we mulch where possible and destroy weeds while small, we save many hours of toil, which may be spent more pleasantly.