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.