MÉLANIe'S GARDENS

About techniques, tools and timing

The heat finally broke in Grimsby after Tuesday’s downpour. It also cleared the smoke from the northern Ontario wildfires that had been hanging over the area. Today seemed like a good day to weed. The temperatures were cooler, the soil was still moist from the rain, and the garden was ready for a little attention.

Last week we looked at a simple question.

What is a weed?

If you missed it, I recommend reading that post first. Once you consider what a weed is, the next question is how to remove it.

People often ask me when the best time to weed is.

The best time to weed is when you have time to weed.

That said, there are certainly times that make the job easier. After rain is one of my favourites because the moist soil lets go of weeds much more easily. During the hottest parts of summer, I’ll often weed in the shade or save it for days that are simply too hot for heavier garden work.

If you’re maintaining a mature garden, you’ll often find yourself pulling tiny weed seedlings as they emerge. At that point, there are very few surprises. You’re simply keeping up with them before they become established.

If you’re maintaining a more typical home garden, the important thing is to catch weeds before they flower and especially before they set seed. Different weeds also have their own seasons. Crabgrass, for example, is much easier to remove when it first begins to emerge than later in the summer after it has spread through a planting bed.

When I head out to weed, my setup is always the same.

I keep a sturdy construction bucket packed and ready to go. Inside are my Hori Hori knife, my Ho Mi hand hoe, my secateurs, a kneeling pad, and a good pair of gloves. I also bring along a larger yard waste bag or bin to empty the bucket into as I work.

I like construction buckets because they’re almost indestructible. They carry weeds, tools, and water, and in a pinch they make a perfectly good seat. But any bucket will do, even a spare empty pot.

My gloves usually have a latex coated palm. They offer a little extra protection against prickly weeds like thistles while staying usable when working with damp plant material.

Keeping everything together means it’s very easy to simply pick up the bucket and begin.

The key here is that different weeds require different strategies.

No matter what you’re removing, the goal of weeding is usually the same. You’re trying to remove the entire plant, including the root.

When starting out weeding, many people often begin by trying to pull the weed out by force.

Instead, loosen the soil first.

If the soil lets go of the weed, the whole plant usually comes out very easily.

The first group of weeds have deep taproots.

Dandelions, Queen Anne’s lace, and many thistles all grow a long, carrot shaped root straight down into the soil.

For these, I almost always reach for my Hori Hori knife.

I place the blade about half an inch away from the root and push it straight down into the soil. Then I lever the handle gently towards myself and down, lifting the surrounding soil just enough to loosen it.

I’m not trying to cut the root.

I’m trying to loosen the soil around it.

Once the soil lets go of the weed, the whole plant usually comes out very easily.

The second group are weeds with spreading or fibrous root systems.

Crabgrass and creeping Charlie are good examples.

For these, I use my Ho Mi hand hoe.

The pointed tip lets me work into very small spaces, whether that’s between flagstones or around other plants. The pointed tip can just kind of grab at the roots. I work it into the soil before pulling it back towards myself to loosen everything.

The ho-mi cand very fine detail work. It can also act as a miniature pick-axe and do some heavier digging. Most helpful is that it’s comfortable enough to use for long periods, the down and pull action is naturally ergonomic.

Again, the goal while weeding isn’t to fight the weed.

It’s simply to loosen the soil so the plant can be removed.

There are a few weeds where removing the entire root system simply isn’t possible.

Field bindweed and many thistles spread through underground rhizomes. Unless you’re excavating the entire area, some of that root system will remain.

In those cases, the strategy changes.

Instead of removing every root, you’re trying to exhaust the plant.

Whenever new growth appears, pull it again. Each time the plant sends up new shoots, it uses stored energy from the remaining root system. If you remove that growth before it can replenish itself, eventually the root system weakens.

I worked on one garden with a heavy thistle infestation. It took about three years, but simply removing the new shoots every time they appeared eventually exhausted the plants. This year, none grew back.

So, while weeding, there are two things to remember.

Don’t let weeds go to seed.

And if they regrow from underground roots, keep removing the new growth until the plant runs out of energy.

Once the weeds are out, most of them can simply go into the compost.

If you have a compost pile, there’s very little reason to throw weeds into the garbage. They’ve gathered nutrients from your own garden, and compost simply returns those nutrients back to the soil.

If you don’t compost at home, municipal yard waste collection is usually the next best option. Many municipalities turn that material into compost that can later be used in parks, gardens, and landscaping. In some places you can even bring that compost back home to use in your own garden. It may not be quite as clean as homemade compost, so it’s better suited for ornamental rather than edible garden beds, but it’s a good way to keep those nutrients cycling.

There are a few exceptions.

Very invasive weeds or weeds that spread particularly easily are sometimes better handled separately, depending on how your municipality processes yard waste. Japanese knotweed is one example. Cleavers are another that some gardeners prefer not to compost.

Sometimes I’ll leave those weeds in a yard waste bag, or even a black garbage bag, for a few weeks so they completely die before disposing of them. During the summer, the heat inside the bag often does the work for you. You just want to make sure they’re really dead, and their seeds no longer viable, before adding them to any compost, at home or otherwise. Truly invasive weeds can destroy entire gardens, and even ecosystems, so caution is essential.

Some dry weeds can also be burned if you have a fire pit.

One important exception is poison ivy. Never burn poison ivy. The oils responsible for the rash become airborne in the smoke and can cause a much more serious pulmonary reaction.

Some weeds deserve an entirely different conversation.

Plants like Japanese knotweed and phragmites are true invasive species. Managing them often involves repeated mowing, solarization, grazing, or in some situations even systemic herbicides. There are good discussions to be had about all of those approaches, and about when they may or may not be appropriate, but they’re beyond the scope of this post.

Here, we’re simply talking about the regular maintenance of an average home garden.

For many people, weeding is one of the jobs they dread most.

For me, it’s often one of the most enjoyable.

Usually it means I have a quiet hour to myself. I’ll put on a podcast, start in one corner of the garden, and simply follow the line.

Sometimes the line is the edge of a planting bed.

Sometimes it’s the edge of the lawn.

Whatever line the garden gives me, I simply keep following it until the garden is weeded, or I run out of time for the day.

There’s something deeply meditative about it. Almost like walking a preset labyrinth.

I keep my weeding bucket packed and ready to go. It makes it very easy to pick it up, step into the garden, and simply begin.

About names, plant strategies and the benefits of rain.

It’s the third day of wildfire smoke from the northern Ontario fires. The air quality isn’t good, and it’s currently not recommended to spend much time outdoors.

I still found myself thinking about weeding.

Not necessarily today. If we’re lucky, perhaps it’ll rain over the weekend. Rain makes pulling weeds much easier. Moist soil releases roots more readily, and many weeds come out with far less effort than they do after a stretch of dry weather.

Besides, weeding is one of those jobs that’s always waiting. It doesn’t really belong to a single week or even a single season. Every garden has weeds, and every gardener eventually develops their own relationship with them.

I enjoy weeding for many reasons.

One of them is that it lets me touch the entire garden. When I’m weeding, I end up in every corner, noticing details that I would never see by simply walking through. It slows gardening down to every square foot.

I also enjoy it because having an afternoon to weed usually means the other seasonal jobs are either finished or postponed because of the weather. If it’s especially hot, I can work in the shade. If it’s raining lightly, I can put on a raincoat, grab a bucket, and continue. It becomes a quiet task, one you can do alone, or alongside someone else while carrying on a small conversation.

Weeding asks for attention, but not urgency.

Over time I’ve also come to see that weeds tell you something about a garden. Different gardens produce different weeds. Soil, moisture, sunlight, disturbance, and even neighbourhood all influence what appears. Learning your weeds is another way of learning your garden.

That naturally raises another question.

What is a weed?

The word itself carries a negative meaning, but that meaning is largely a human one. A weed is not a particular kind of plant. It is a judgment.

To me, a weed is simply a plant that is not wanted in a particular spot.

That makes weeds entirely dependent on the gardener.

The same plant can be a weed in one place and welcome in another.

If a lavender seeds itself into an empty sunny bed where I wanted another lavender anyway, I consider it a volunteer. It arrived on its own, but I am happy to keep it.

If that same seedling appears in the middle of a carefully spaced geometric planting where there is no room for another plant, then it has become a weed.

The plant hasn’t changed.

The location has.

Sometimes I transplant that volunteer elsewhere. Sometimes, if there are twenty of them and nowhere to put them, they go into the compost. We often first ask, “What plant is this?”

When weeding however, the first question often is, “Do I want this plant here?”

There are, however, plants that are genuinely weedy.

To me, those are plants whose growth strategy is so aggressive that they begin overwhelming everything around them. Some spread rapidly by seed. Others spread by rhizomes, making them difficult to remove completely.

Phragmites and Japanese knotweed are good examples. Their extensive root systems allow them to spread quickly while displacing nearly everything else growing nearby. If you’ve driven along Ontario highways, you’ve probably seen large stands of tall bluish grass with feathery plumes towering above everything around them. That is often non-native phragmites. Notice that very little else grows within those patches.

Other weeds, like creeping bellflower, may not be nearly as tall, but they spread readily and return from even small pieces of root left behind.

On the other hand, not every weed is difficult. Some self seed freely but pull out with almost no effort. They create regular work, but they don’t wage a long term battle against the gardener.

Even weeds have different strategies.

Some appear only during certain parts of the season. Right now, for example, we’re in the middle of crabgrass season. A month ago there was almost none to be found.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I enjoy weeding so much.

It isn’t simply removing unwanted plants.

It’s a quiet process of observation and selection.

Looking at everything growing in the garden, one plant at a time, and deciding what stays.

About different tools for different outcomes, heat waves, and how to add some silence into your gardening.

This past weekend in Grimsby, the catalpas have been in bloom. In the long series of spring flowers, trees may be the most majestic, and at the end of the spring season, after the lilacs, the horse chestnuts, and the maples have all bloomed, the catalpas are always a spectacular surprise.

It’s also been a few weeks of mixed weather. Last week we had lower temperatures alongside very heavy showers. This week we’re in a heat wave, some of the hottest temperatures of the year so far.

Because of that, this exploration of hedge trimming is a preemptive one. While the heat wave is ongoing, it’s a stressful time for both humans and plants, especially for gardeners who enjoy spending time outside. The actual hedge trimming can wait until the heat breaks.

The way I approach heat waves while gardening is twofold.

First, I take care of myself. I mostly work in the shade when possible, choose the cooler parts of the day, drink plenty of water, and pay attention to symptoms such as confusion, dizziness, or even just general lack of energy. It’s okay to work a little slower and be more intentional with the work you do if you absolutely have to be outside.

The other consideration is for the gardens. During a heat wave, it’s best to avoid things that stress plants, such as significant pruning or hedge trimming. Those can wait for cooler weather. I often prefer smaller tasks, such as weeding, especially in shaded areas. It’s a good time to step back and simply observe the garden.

Hot days call for stillness.

It’s also the time of year when many hedge shrubs have just flushed out their new growth. For some shrubs, such as the flowering shrubs discussed in the previous pruning post, all the blooms are finished and they’re ready for pruning. For others, such as boxwoods and yews, the new growth has flushed out and they’re approaching the right time for their seasonal trim.

Just like flowering shrubs, timing your cut is important.

Take the yew as an example. Their new growth is very obvious. The old growth is a lush dark forest green, while the new growth is a bright lime green. If you touch it, you’ll notice that the new growth is softer than the older needles, and if you look closely at the tips you may even find needles that are still developing.

If you trim your yew too early, it still has the energy to produce more growth, which often means another trim later in the season. If you wait until the lime green growth has fully flushed out and begins to darken, that usually indicates the shrub has finished growing for the year. One trim is often enough.

Other shrubs have similar signals. Boxwoods also produce lighter, softer new growth. Privets, which usually need more than one trim each season, simply begin looking scraggly. Since they bloom around this time, you can either trim them now and sacrifice some flowers, or enjoy the blooms first and give them a tighter trim afterwards. Sometimes I’ll trim only up to the blooms, then remove the final inch or two once flowering has finished.

Once you’ve decided that the timing is right, have a look at the weather.

If it’s been raining, it may be worth waiting until the foliage dries. Wet foliage can encourage rust on tools, and the cuts may not be quite as clean. If you’re coming out of a heat wave, giving your shrubs a deep watering the evening before trimming helps them recover from the stress and increases their resilience before a significant haircut.

When you’re trimming a hedge, like with any other gardening task, the tool shapes the outcome. Choosing the right tool is as important as the trimming itself.

The hedge trimmer

The most obvious tool for hedge trimming is, of course, the hedge trimmer.

The best hedge trimmer is the one you have.

Whether yours is battery powered, corded, or gas powered, take what you have and have a look at it. I personally use a medium-sized battery-powered hedge trimmer. I previously used a corded one and found the extension cord made the work slower and required constant attention to avoid cutting through it. I generally don’t use gas-powered tools, especially in residential gardens. A battery-powered hedge trimmer is more than sufficient, and I find hedge trimmers use surprisingly little battery compared to tools such as blowers.

Before starting, I like to oil the blades and briefly run the trimmer. If the blades move smoothly without squeaking or binding, the tool is ready. The smoother the tool, the cleaner the cut.

A hedge trimmer works exactly where you place it. Lay the blade flat against the surface you want to trim and move steadily along it.

If I’m trimming a rectangular yew hedge, I usually do the sides first and then the top. There’s no right or wrong order. I simply find that trimming the sides first gives me a clearer picture of the final height before I trim the top.

On the sides, you can work from the bottom up, from the top down, or even side to side. Each has a slightly different effect. Bottom to top gives a lighter skim and is less likely to snag branches. Top to bottom pushes against the natural direction of growth and reaches a little deeper into the hedge. Side to side often falls somewhere in between.

I often use all three during the same hedge. A light pass from the bottom up, another from the top down where needed, and finally a side-to-side pass to even everything out.

There’s no one right way. It’s all situation dependent.

When trimming the top, I place the blade at the final height I want and work from left to right or right to left. On larger hedges such as privets, the clippings quickly accumulate on top, so I often stop, clear them away, and make a second pass in the opposite direction. The branches move while you’re trimming, and a second pass usually catches the growth that escaped the first.

One small adjustment I’ve found useful is the angle of the blade. Keeping it perfectly flat gives you a good enough cut. If you angle the blade slightly, perhaps ten degrees, towards the direction you’re moving, the teeth of the hedge trimmer naturally pick up the new growth a little more easily, almost as if you’re combing the hedge. The important part is that your movement remains parallel to the hedge. The blade is angled slightly, but your path is still straight.

Hand shears

Even though hedge trimmers are the obvious choice, they’re far from the only one.

I often use hand shears. They’re lighter, quieter, and give me a different kind of control. I especially like them for smaller shrubs, such as individual dwarf Korean lilacs, boxwood balls, or cedar topiary.

When you’re using shears, every cut gathers only a small amount of growth. It takes a little longer to develop a smooth finish, but once you become comfortable with them they offer remarkable precision.

One advantage of shears is that changing the way you hold them changes the angle of the blades. Held one way they’re better suited to shorter shrubs. Turn them over and they become much easier to use on taller, rounded forms.

If you’re new to using shears, think of them as a very large pair of scissors.

When shaping a globe, I usually begin by creating a small flat area on the very top. That establishes the final height. From there, I follow one continuous curve from the top all the way to the bottom. I repeat the same curve on the opposite side, creating a band around the shrub. Then I repeat the process at ninety degrees to the first. Once those four curves are established, the remaining sections naturally fall into place.

If you have a small shrub, I highly recommend trying shears at least once.

For me, one of their biggest advantages is actually the silence. If I’m working in a quiet garden or on a quiet Sunday afternoon, there may be no reason to start the hedge trimmer. I can work with shears, listen to a podcast without noise-cancelling headphones, and still hear what’s going on around me.

It’s a good tool for silent gardening.

Hand pruners

Both hedge trimmers and shears are efficient tools. The trade-off is that they create a very small amount of damage as leaves are sliced through. On small-leaved shrubs such as yews and boxwoods, this is negligible, especially if your blades are sharp and clean. There is no better way to achieve a crisp, even surface.

Sometimes, however, preserving texture matters more than creating a perfectly flat finish.

This is where hand pruners come in.

Every cut with hand pruners is intentional.

If I’m reducing the size of a shrub, I’ll often identify one dominant branch and remove it back to its origin while leaving the surrounding branches untouched. In many cases, that reduces the size without needing to shorten every branch around it.

Hand pruners also let you place each cut exactly where you want future growth. Wherever you prune, most shrubs respond by producing denser growth below the cut. If I want a shrub to fill in a thin area, recover from winter damage, or simply grow in a particular direction, I’ll usually reach for my pruners.

That’s why I carry them with me even when I’m hedge trimming.

They’re useful for the stubborn branch that refuses to catch in the hedge trimmer, the small correction that improves the overall shape, or the stray tree seedling growing through the hedge that needs to be removed cleanly at its base.

When you’re trimming a hedge, like with any other gardening task, the tool shapes the outcome.

If you have a small rounded shrub where every branch matters, or perhaps one where you prefer a looser, wilder look, hand pruners may be what works best for you.

If you have a very large hedge that you want trimmed cleanly and neatly, a hedge trimmer is a great tool for large areas.

And if you’re somewhere in the middle, enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon after the heat wave breaks, and you simply want to spend some time with your shrub without bringing out the hedge trimmer, a pair of shears rewards the time spent learning them with added flexibility.

The tool shapes the outcome.