There Are Weedy Angels and Demons In Your Garden Right Now (Do You know what to DO?)
Here a weed, there a weed, everywhere a weed-weed . . . Old McDonald had a farm
If you have ever had a garden, then you’ve probably also had a weed. And like a splinter in your foot that bites at every step, once you’ve had a weed, then you need to figure out what you are going to do about it.
Today let’s talk about weeds, and their associated practices which become the verb “weeding”, so that you can better pick your battles. You can let the angels rest easy, and focus on the demons.
What is a weed?
A weed is nothing more (or less) than a plant growing where it is not wanted and competing with the plants you do want in a particular space.
That means there is nothing innately nefarious about weeds.
And at any given place and time, what gets called a weed is infinitely nuanced.
For example, I am a seed saver. I let mustards go to seed each year in my garden and often don’t collect up all the pods before they crack open. That means next spring, I get blankets of mustards popping up in the garden where those pods fell. Since I also rotate my garden, those mustards are out of place - and therefore “weeds”. But they are infinitely welcome because they are the first yummy tastes of spring food that appear for free. Compared to other options for “weeds”, I’ll take mustards any day.
“Weeds” are really in the eye of the beholder.
I used to think chickweed was such a frustrating weed, until I realized it is packed with useful nutrients, edible in a salad, useful as medicine, AND with no irony intended - it is an incredible chicken food (who knew right?). So is it a weed? Really? It’s actually become just another part of the garden for me. . . .demon turned angel.
This becomes the crux of our conversation today: What really is a weed in your garden that is both unwanted AND competing with the plants you do want? And more importantly what should you do about it? Does this plant have other uses? Or is it something you need to truly crack down on?
Weeding Practices
I am not suggesting that you allow unwanted competing plants to ruin your crops. Removal of competition is vital if you want big main season crops that produce quality food in abundance.
It’s just that some weeding practices make things better, and others make things worse.
Catch it early
The number one thing to do with weeding is to get the plants early - as early as possible in their growth cycle. It is more important to weed when the plants are small because once they flower and go to seed, you have already lost the battle this year and for years to come. Weeds always produce tons of seed (literally thousands of seeds - it’s part of what makes them so persistent). The goal is always to prevent weeds from going to seed because you are capping the problem.
This can be both tricky and tiresome. Which leads to practice #2:
MULCH
Nature hates bare soil. So if you only pull the weeds our or chop them down with a hoe, then in just a day or two more weeds will appear.
You vastly reduce your weeding efforts by always mulching after weeding. Mulching means to cover the ground with organic materials like straw, grass clippings, chopped leaves, cardboard, paper, etc. The mulch blocks light which slows down weed germination. The organic materials slowly break down, enrich the soil and hold water which helps your crop grow bigger and better too.
Pull the weeds - and replace with Mulch!
Leave the angels
Many so-called weeds are actually good food and medicine. This newsletter reaches people all over the world, so I cannot give you a list in this post. But with a little Google searching, some reading, and/or by consulting with local experts you can determine the identity of your weeds, and their historic uses and properties.
Just remember to approach plants like these with some respect. One man’s medicine is another man’s poison . . . meaning just because a book or website says a plant is “safe” doesn’t necessarily make it safe for you personally.
There are some amazing plant medicines out there classed as weeds.
My favorite example is plantain. For years I cursed about this plant that likes compact disturbed soil and so likes to take over pathways. But now it is a most cherished medicine on my farm. Why? Because I learned that if you chew up a leaf and stick the crushed leaf on a bee or wasp sting, it can INSTANTLY stop the pain. Like magic.
Fight the demons
No, our energy is best spent reducing the plants that have some seriously unwanted impacts in our gardens. . . the ones capable of a hostile takeover leaving you unable to even find your food plants because they grow and spread so fast.
I’ve just got hit with such a demon. Sprung up out of nowhere (from a bird perhaps?) in my raspberry patch and is already 2.5 ft tall and climbing fast? WOW and dam and yesterday I was pulling its scratchy sticky stems out by the armload. This happens.
When it does, you need to know what to do:
Best Practice: Pull these weeds when they are very small at the start of the season and before they flower. Then mulch deeply so more don’t get the opportunity to grow.
If the plants you pull our are indeed very small with no flowers - let them dry out completely in the sun - and then you can use them as part of the mulch. You will know if this is an okay practice if none of the plants start to regrow. BUT if you see your withered weeds start to regrow - or worse - continue on to flower and set seeds - then you know this is NOT WORKING. You need to do something more.
The goal with weeds is always to stop them from re-seeding.
If the plant has not flowered, AND it does not come back to life or set seed once it has wilted, THEN it is safe to use as mulch or to put into the compost.
If the plant has flowers - there is a risk it will have enough energy in the stem to set those seeds - MORE looks like this:
Add the plant to a HOT compost pile (this is an active, steaming pile). If your pile isn’t steaming hot, then this will not work. Keep reading.
Put the weeds into a black garbage bag and sprinkle in some water. Seal it up tightly. Leave it in the hot sun for 5-7 and then re-check. You want to see that the plants have literally cooked in the bag. Then it is safe to add this cooked mess to the regular compost.
Create a weed-only pile that will never get moved. Pile up all the bad weeds into this pile, and never dig it out, just keep adding. You might need to cover the pile to contain it. Having all the bad weeds in one place is WAY easier to manage than having them seeding everywhere. Contain the pile, manage one pile. Never use the soil from this pile in the garden or any surface application. Leave it in place permanently, bury it deeply underground, or remove to a landfill.
Consider if you need to send the noxious material to the landfill right away. This is a good option for small gardens where you have no space for a permanent pile. I reserve this option for highly invasive weeds. You can google to find a list of highly invasive plants for your area.
No matter how or when you remove weeds from your garden, ALWAYS replant the bare ground to something you do want (perhaps thyme, yarrow, clover, lettuce, mustard, etc) or mulch deeply.
Pick your battles
Weeds are only a problem because by definition they are something you don’t want in that place.
In a different space, at a different time, most of these plants are highly useful in the ecosystem. Many are the first plants to grow after ground disturbance, like a wildfire or landslide, and they start the process of re-shaping the soil so that other plants and trees will eventually grow again. In other words, they are in your garden because there is ground disturbance. They are doing what comes naturally.
Somehow really sitting with this concept has made it a lot easier for me to take weeds in stride. They are just being plants, responding to the conditions I created in the first place. And on closer inspection, many of these plants are highly useful . . . they just tend to be overly exuberant in the garden.
Weeding doesn’t have to feel like an never-ending job. The strategies I have listed here have shifted my work load and energy. And since I have chickens and ducks, many of my common weeds are actually bird-food so my weeding now does the double duty of clearing the garden AND feeding the chickens.
I’m curious if any of these strategies gave you a new idea today? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Happy weeding!
The Naturalized Human brings together the science and human experience of the mind-body-food connection. I write about growing food, and how this affects every aspect of our mental and physical health and wellness. If you enjoy and benefit from this work, then consider becoming a paid subscriber. For just $5 US/month (a cup of coffee), you can show your support and access all the features of this newsletter.