I moved into a house 4 years ago that was over grown with thorny weeds. Using various methods like hand pulling, digging, tilling and skimming, it was backbreaking work the first 2 years. Then 2 years later I adopted the no dig method and was surprised how well mulching with cardboard and wood chips killed perennial weeds without effort. I swear by mulching now, and has already cleared many areas where thorny brambles used to dominate. I have vastly increased my growing area without hurting my back or being scratched to hell by thorns.
To keep weeds down on freshly flatened gardens, whilst renovating an old house we bought, that needed renovating in and out we used old hessain backed pure wool carpet, placed upside down on the ground and held down with pavers. We obtained the carpet from carpet stores skip (rubbish) bins 9 with their permission). It gave us time to plan and juggle reno jobs. The natural fibres of the hessian and pure wool, allowed the soil to breathe, so not killing off micro organisims etc. It took us a year to finish the gardens front and back and it did a great job. TWO drawbacks though - you have to cart the carpet off to the tip yourself when done with it and if at the time of removal if it was wet weather, the carpet was heavy. The carpet is still in parts of my garden, under the raised garden beds, covered with gravel in between the beds and surrounding the trees we planted as a hedge. 2 and half years on everything is looking great still in those areas. The natural fibres will eventually break down, but as they are natural, as is good.
We have a swimming pool therefore when the pool is open in the summer we bag our grass clippings and put them between our vegetable rows providing nitrogen and organic substance to our vegetable garden. When the pool is closed early spring and fall the grass clippings are left on the ground. We use no herbicides.
I garden in a community garden and one of the down sides are the weed issues. Plus before planting, the garden has had 6 months to grow weeds. I discovered the joys of gardening in the rain! Really....weeding in the rain or just after a good rain is a joy! (Gardeners actually ARE water proof and a good hat keeps the water out of your eyes.) The weeds all but jump themselves into your bucket.
ive got a problem with bind weed , so i dug it up as much as i could ,but if you leave as little as 1cm of root it will grow, and you will leave some, you wont get it all. i didnt want to put weed killer down, and looked for answers and best answer i got was, Any little bit , get rid and never let it flower , after a year or so it will die, so my advice, Yeah its hard work at first but when you get on top of it,{you never will] it will die, so do the opposite what a plant needs to survive ,the opposite to weeds,my allotment patch was full of it,now not so bad,you could put chicken wire around plants, or put membrane over soil then plant in holes in membrane. i dont do no dig, but can see why people do. but the best growing medium to me is the soil,besides im not rich to afford bags and bags of compost.i placed the bind weed in a plastic bag and let it rot right down , or as you said put it in water,and rot itdown then add to your compost pile , or burn it
I have discovered it generally takes me 3 to 4 years to completely clear a raised garden planter here in Louisiana. The initial 2 years will want to make you pull your hair out but by the 4th it becomes a real joy.
Thanks for your great little video. I'm in the process of extracting each and every weed in my lawn. And then after scarifying and re-seeding I'll employ a zero tolerence approach!
Sometimes you just have to use weedkiller. My garden hadn't been dug in 7 years. I had a 4 inch mat of bindweed and grass roots that I couldn't get a fork or spade into. I blasted it with weedkiller then dug it over with a JCB. Pulled out a pile of weed roots as high as my chest. Now I have thistles, dandelions, etc growing. The bindweed and grass roots suppressed the thistles.
Nut grass is the bane of my garden here in Southern California. Pull as I may, deep down below is a nut like rootball that spreads far and wide and pops up another shoot. Daily struggle.
This might be controversial, but my mom would place a drop of herbicide on each nut grass. She did this for about 2 years. Since then, there is no nut grass on her lawn while her neighbor’s does. She is hyper vigilant about pulling out any new ones, but does not use the herbicide.
I took over an abandoned allotment this year. I’m doing no dig but struggling with the amount of couch grass, brambles, bindweed and docks I’ve lots of nettles too but I find these easier to pull up with the roots x
I always think that weeding my quite big garden is like spinning plates on top of poles - you no sooner get the last one spinning than you have to dash back to the beginning and spin again to make sure the plates don’t fall off 😂😂😂
Weeds have taken a back seat to bugs in my garden. My gorgeous spaghetti squash was cut down in its prime by a borer. Four years in a row, freezing, flooding and bugs. I'm not giving up. Weeds are the least of my worries. I started with the newspaper/compost plan from an almanac.com video. Worked great-for weeds.
Fascinating to see how mulching prevents the weeds growing. ( You've convinced me of the benefits but I don't really understand how this works. Is the compost not just like the soil that the weeds are already growing in?)
The idea is that the compost is mostly free of weed seeds. Therefore by placing onto the soil, you are burying the weed seeds in the soil further down, which makes it harder for them to germinate/reach the soil surface. The result if fewer weeds.
My raised vegetable garden is looking pretty decent probably owing to the fact that we just built it 4 years ago. However, my perennial flower garden is an absolute mess. Our previous neighbors had thistle feeders and the seeds evidently found their way into the flowers. This was 15 years ago and I am still battling thistles. Also creeping Charlie, quack grass, clover, and numerous other little demons that refuse to be gone. Admittedly, I am not the best at daily gardening. Tried the black plastic covering last year and put the fall leaves over to keep it in place. The thistles are pushing right through the plastic barrier. UGH! Loved this video to help me double my efforts in weed control. Going out to sharpen my hoe and get on it now!
In my second year of having an allotment and can say the weeds really are winning. I have a plan though to put paths in so no need to weed them and to have a lot more mulching done. We may be losing the fight but we have not lost the war, yet.
I have decided to make weeding a daily practice; just as some people meditate, do yoga, and exercise, I get the daily weeding in, doing my best to keep on top of making four abandoned, toxic-with-chemicals, acres, eventually organic. The best time to easily pull weeds is during and right after rain, when any hard, compacted soil is looser about weed roots. There are so many deer allowed to rampage through here I pick up between ten and fifteen pounds of their excrement each morning, and I have found that using old cut up tee shirt material, cut into long, continuous strips, then tied between trees, bushes and posts, will keep them out of sections of my four acres because they cannot see very well. The deer eat everything, except the weeds, and I can never decide which I detest more.
Our biggest weed problem is with winter creeper. Two or three years ago, my husband spent just about all spring and a good bit of the summer pulling and digging it out of our yard. It's one of those perennials that seeds roots deep and spreads both over and underground. That year and most of the next, we were pretty much free of winter creeper, but it has started to return, no doubt because it overcame one of our next-door neighbor's holly bushes, and, apparently, he didn't realize it was not a desirable plant. So, it flowers, the birds eat its seeds, and, thus, it spreads.
My biggest weeding gripe has always been the need to weed the pathways between beds. This year, I put down cardboard in all the rows and covered the cardboard with a 3-4 inch layer of wood chips donated by local tree companies. The wood chips don't bring in weed seeds. A big up-front investment of time, but has paid off handsomely. I'm hoping for a couple of seasons without pathway weeds.
Hi there, really enjoy your videos have learnt so much! I seem to remember a video ages ago with a recipe for homemade weed killer to use over gravel, could you provide a link to it I can't seem to find it... Many thanks!
Try this: forget a fall garden this year. Cut it short with a mower, then go over it with a weed-eater until you just have dirt showing. Water/soak it well, then cover it with black plastic and rocks or bricks to hold it down. Next spring, when you uncover it, you'll see where the survivors have grown. They will be yellow with white tendrils growing everywhere (they've come up to the surface). Water well the night before, then first thing in the morning lift it all with a steal fork, and pull them out roots and all. There will always be a couple missed, but be diligent to grab a shovel at least once a week to get ALL the roots. Eventually you'll get ALL of them. I did. Now I'm working on a 12" garden edging that goes 6 inches down to KEEP it out!
no matter how many times I pull the weed it seems as though 2 grow in its place, I hired someone to clean out my weeds but the weeds grew back with a vengence. I am going to pull the weeds again then cover the area with black plactic and hope for the best.
Great tips - provided you are persistent, and methodical. I can be the former but am seldom the latter. Were there more time, I'd probably do a better job of controlling if not getting rid of the weeds we have altogether. Most aggravating I find to be: Creeping Woodsorrel (the deep tap roots are a bear to remove, and this weed spreads incredibly fast) Dandelions (roots break off easily if not dug up properly), Crab Grass (spreads extremely fast, but relatively easy to pull out if not on lawn and when plants are young). There's more, but these three are my absolute worst. I will be mulching heavily and will try covering the ground in one area where we haven't decided what to plant yet. But my lawn is, I fear, not faring well.
It's bind weed in our community garden. Most folk are fighting the good fight but if a few aren't diligent it spreads so fast. I made the mistake of filling the paths with cardboard and wood-chips and this seemed to make it more aggressive...ugh!
In our community garden, we have "renamed" bindweed to "the evil vine". Year after year, we have a little less of it through a diligent weeding campaign but it is definitely the most persistent of them all in our area!
Just taken on a full size allotment an it is riddled with bind weed, the strands ran about 10 feet and 2feet high. I just feel i have to strip of the top 4-6" brign in new but clean the roots out of the soil over time
I'm in the midst of what will likely be a very long battle with invasive blackberry vines. Dug them all out three times this year so far and they're back again!
Love your videos. Wondering if you have any advise on getting rid of 'Kikuyu'. I live in the subtropical part of NZ, so no frosts. Appreciate any sugestions Thanks
It looks a bit like our couch grass, which can spread quite quickly. I would be inclined to smother areas of kikuyu with sheet mulching. Black sheeting to block the light and make it run out of energy. Or you could mow it down and cover with multiple layers of cardboard to exhaust and kill it.
great tip Grow veg to cover the compost with plastic. Im going to try that! I would call you by your name if I knew what it was....lol I learn at least ONE tip on every video, and Ive been doing this for a long time. Just goes to show, we need to keep an OPEN mind! thanks again.
Just got to read the rest of your message! Yes, this is one thing you could do as a last resort, but it would very labour intensive and potentially rather costly. Better if you can just smother the weeds, which, in time, will eventually give up and die.
I’d like to remove weeds that have many horizontal runner roots so that I can plant perennials in a plant bed. How long do I need to leave cardboard down to kill the weeds? Also, there are plants intermingled with weeds - Should I cover these with cardboard too? I want to make sure these weeds are gone before I replant since I removed th once already and they can back with a vengeance! I used a plant identifier app and it says the weeds are “creeping bellflower” but I’m not sure if this is correct as I’ve never seen it flower. Thank you!!!
How long you leave cardboard on can vary according to the weeds, the soil, time of year etc. I would leave the cardboard down for at least two months, but up to four if there are still lots of shoots under there. Once you've knocked them back any regrowth should be much easier to stay on top of. You may need to replace the cardboard a few times as it starts to break down.
It is a constant battle in our garden, both with weeds and deer. We bought our house a few years ago and it has a beautiful garden with 24 raised beds, but it's just too much. I try and keep most of the beds covered with black plastic until we're ready to use. Fun, but so much work.
Lots of options for you, depending on the time of year. At this stage you could try clover, or maybe winter field beans next month. More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/XvERk9kwmVI/v-deo.htmlsi=ajCU5Cboc7SLlZ4h
We live in the deep south US and it is a constant battle with weeds. Everything grows SO quickly in the heat and almost daily rains. We even have rhizome type grasses grown up through 15" raised beds. Worst part of gardening.
we live up north in Canada in the Yukon and we started eating some weeds; this year it took so long untill the vegies started growing but lots of fireweed and lambsquarter
I garden in So California and the Bermuda grass is the worst! Yes it will grow easily through 15" of soil, and I don't think it needs any moisture at all except maybe that of other dying weeds (ha ha). I am in full on skirmish mode right now trying to clear it before I put done new raised bed.
I have a 50x80 foot garden and this year Nut sedge and creeping charlie has taken over and won. I used clear plastic for a month but the stuff came right back. I don't really want to, but am ready to use chemicals in my vegetable garden. Help!!!
Love the video but I would love to hear your comments on oxalis. I have removed several large sack-loads from my veggie garden over the last few years and yet I am getting nowhere. What is so frustrating is it was imported in topsoil. We do not have oxalis anywhere else on the property!
You could perhaps try covering over the soil when it isn't being cropped, to exclude light from the growing area and weaken them. They can indeed get everywhere. One option could be to completely cover the ground with light-excluding membrane, then cut Xs in the membrane to plant sprawling veggies through it, such as squashes. This way you can still get some use out of the ground while it's being cleansed of weeds.
I would love to know how to get rid of bermuda grass. We have it everywhere. It has managed to make its way up into my raised beds and it is a constant battle in the flower beds as well. Suggestions would be great!
When weeds are so thick and prevalent it's sometimes worth starting again, by covering the ground over to suffocate the weeds. It may take up to six months, but you'll eventually be left with clean soil to plant into.
What is the name of that hoe sharpened in the video or where can I find it? My weed foe is quack grass coming in from neighbors yards along the fences. I’ve pretty much eradicated it in my beds through mulch and persistent pulling but I may never be without it. I just continue to pull runners.
If the roots of annual weeds are left in the ground they will just rot away. If the weeds of perennial weeds are left in the ground they may well grow again - that's very common. So best to remove the roots too.
We have bermuda so bad that I can hardly garden in ground anymore. Plus we have clay soil and it’s very difficult to pull even when damp. Impossible when dry! Any advice on how to amend the soil so it’s easier to work? Short of replacing the top 12 inches! Which is tempting but way too much work!
It all comes down to completely covering the soil to deny it of any sunlight, which will, over time, help to bring the bermuda grass under control. You could if you wish place a thick layer of compost over the bermuda grass before covering it. This will help to further 'suffocate' the grass, and while it is covered with plastic or cardboard or whatever, the earthworms below can be turning in all that goodness. As the bermuda rots down, it too will add valuable organic matter and nutrients, in much the same way as a cover crop would.
I have a small parcel where soil is mostly made of solid clay, so most of the these operations are much harder. I digged/plowed the first year as good as I could, I'm thinking of continuing manual removal of weeds and then use cover crops to reduce their space. Are some weeds actually good for the soil?
Yes, annual weeds that haven't flowered (and therefore set seed) are fine to dig into the soil and, in fact, act as a cover crop by adding valuable organic matter into the soil.
ILBackyardFarm I’m sending this info and this connection to our son who tried a garden in middle yard. Weeds soon took over. Thanks for info Our garden consists of 12 large containers, over planted them this year. Will plant less per pot this fall.
The previous owner had planted ivy in the garden. I have been fighting this demon plant since 2004. I don't want to use anything that would render the ground inhospitable for chosen plantings. What do I do?
Put down several layers of newspaper or a layer of cardboard and 8 inches or so of compost. Do not til the garden after this as it will bring the seeds or roots to the surface to grow again. this will make a big difference right away but you have to keep after it or one little one may start the battle all over again. Essentially you are burying the ivy from sun and water killing it off.
You might also try spraying the weeds with horticultural vinegar (20%). That will kill most plants but is an organic solution. You should probably test the soil afterward, once the weeds are gone, to make sure it isn't too acidic, or, if it is, to let you know how to even the pH back out. You might also try putting down several layers of newspaper before spraying them with the vinegar.
Yes, potentially, as the temperature rises very hot and kills them off. However, I'd be nervous that any material at the sides of the heap wouldn't get hot enough to kill it all off, so perennial weed roots especially could survive.
I am trying to prevent my plants being killed off by bindweed which is coming from next doors garden ( they never go out there and their whole garden is covered with it ) it not only comes through the fence but under and over ( not easy to get to that until it grows down my side and atacks my roses as garden on a steep slope so getting to top of fence not so easy as to steep for ladders) it and I have to constantly check every area but its slowly spreading under my garden and popping up further and further into it - its already killed a couple of young plants as it appears feet long almost overnight and I literally missed it among them. Any ideas what I can do - am keeping organic and have dogs that are allowed to roam my garden?
Why not offer to come next door and clear a foot of space from your mutual fence? It will make your life much happier, for the time it takes. Also, if you can do this weeding itn the rain or just after a good rain it will be super easy.
I have a problem with bindweed also, and believe me, clearing a foot of the neighbor's ground would only last a few days or so. I have been fighting 4 acres of bindweed for the past 4 years since we moved to an acreage covered with it. Do not have a good solution, because even covering areas with plastic mulch or anything else only encourages the roots to grow longer under it until it comes out the other end. It's exasperating!
This is a really difficult one because the bindweed will keep on coming from next door. The only solution is to carry on as you are, which isn't very helpful I know. You can lay membrane over beds and borders and plant through this, but that may be a lot of work for a whole garden! I think the only way you'd get on top of the bindweed is to work with your neighbour on its elimination.
Momma Bearuk, i've had this issue before, my self, theres a chance you can build root barriers between their and your yard. If you have the means, along the fence thats being invaded; dig a trench parallel to the fence, and insert galvanized metal or a plastic sheet. back fill with dirt.
Thanks might do that - if maybe wall is stopping it travel to side garden under wall then a nice trench filled with basically a wall of bricks below ground might just do the trick - already a layer of bricks around whole back garden to stop dogs trying to dig under the fences ( not these dogs but previous ones who loved digging there). So will just take it further but add mortar. Son will enjoy digging this :)
The very well-established perennial weeds may need depriving of sunlight for up to a year, but a few months during the growing season is normally enough to kill them off.
Bury it under newspapers or cardboard and 8 inches or more of compost, then do not till again. Some plants or weeds only need one seed or root exposed to the right growing conditions to take over.
I love chicken pellets. Have yet to see them in my area. When I lived in South Florida they were easier to get. And I live in a more rural area now (Maine)
I am fighting so called "witch grass" in my Maine garden. After two fallow seasons, it has taken over with a vengeance. The roots are very thick and deep, and roto-tilling only seems to make it worse, breaking up the roots, spreading them and burying them again. I have raked my 1500 sq. foot plot over four or five times and came up with at least 10 wheelbarrow loads of roots, and it hardly seems to make a difference. But I will not give up. I found a source for 8"-14" wide strips of carpeting, which doesn't blow away, lets moisture through, and effectively blocks the weeds. I can easily lay strips between established rows, or overlap strips to cover larger areas. I am now on the lookout for old rugs and carpeting in larger sizes, which I can use to cover large areas this fall when the crops come out.
When I first moved here 6 years ago, I could easily see where his garden was, there was zero growth in the hardpan clay. All around the garden was 6 foot weeds. I waited for a hardy rain, then easily yanked them out of the muddy clay (I didn't use them for compost, just burned them all). After telling/showing the local Farm Co-op what I had, they sold me gypsum, perlite (huge bag course), vermiculite (also huge bag), bone meal, greensand, blood meal, and 2 bales of straw. I remember asking how much I needed of each for my 4-25' rows, and he said, "Just use ALL of it!" LOL! Anyway, it was the best investment I've ever made. Since then, I've added 12 more rows (4 rows each of next 3 years), and bought exactly the same products each time. Have had to add poultry netting around parts of the garden, because the raccoons have discovered it... but my freezer is always full!
I moved into a house 4 years ago that was over grown with thorny weeds. Using various methods like hand pulling, digging, tilling and skimming, it was backbreaking work the first 2 years. Then 2 years later I adopted the no dig method and was surprised how well mulching with cardboard and wood chips killed perennial weeds without effort. I swear by mulching now, and has already cleared many areas where thorny brambles used to dominate. I have vastly increased my growing area without hurting my back or being scratched to hell by thorns.
Thanks for sharing your experiences Janice. This is a great endorsement of no-dig gardening. :-)
To keep weeds down on freshly flatened gardens, whilst renovating an old house we bought, that needed renovating in and out we used old hessain backed pure wool carpet, placed upside down on the ground and held down with pavers. We obtained the carpet from carpet stores skip (rubbish) bins 9 with their permission). It gave us time to plan and juggle reno jobs. The natural fibres of the hessian and pure wool, allowed the soil to breathe, so not killing off micro organisims etc. It took us a year to finish the gardens front and back and it did a great job. TWO drawbacks though - you have to cart the carpet off to the tip yourself when done with it and if at the time of removal if it was wet weather, the carpet was heavy. The carpet is still in parts of my garden, under the raised garden beds, covered with gravel in between the beds and surrounding the trees we planted as a hedge.
2 and half years on everything is looking great still in those areas. The natural fibres will eventually break down, but as they are natural, as is good.
That's a really handy tip - thanks for sharing.
We have a swimming pool therefore when the pool is open in the summer we bag our grass clippings and put them between our vegetable rows providing nitrogen and organic substance to our vegetable garden. When the pool is closed early spring and fall the grass clippings are left on the ground. We use no herbicides.
I garden in a community garden and one of the down sides are the weed issues.
Plus before planting, the garden has had 6 months to grow weeds.
I discovered the joys of gardening in the rain!
Really....weeding in the rain or just after a good rain is a joy!
(Gardeners actually ARE water proof and a good hat keeps the water out of your eyes.)
The weeds all but jump themselves into your bucket.
It is significantly easier to pull them out by the roots if the ground is pretty damp.
My war is with Bermuda Grass, and it can NOT be removed from dry clay. But if it doesn't rain, I just water it the night before I plan to weed.
Thank for keeping me positive, sometimes I feel like, I give up☺️
You can never win the battle against weeds entirely, but persistence will eventually pay off I promise!
ive got a problem with bind weed , so i dug it up as much as i could ,but if you leave as little as 1cm of root it will grow, and you will leave some, you wont get it all. i didnt want to put weed killer down, and looked for answers and best answer i got was, Any little bit , get rid and never let it flower , after a year or so it will die, so my advice, Yeah its hard work at first but when you get on top of it,{you never will] it will die, so do the opposite what a plant needs to survive ,the opposite to weeds,my allotment patch was full of it,now not so bad,you could put chicken wire around plants, or put membrane over soil then plant in holes in membrane. i dont do no dig, but can see why people do. but the best growing medium to me is the soil,besides im not rich to afford bags and bags of compost.i placed the bind weed in a plastic bag and let it rot right down , or as you said put it in water,and rot itdown then add to your compost pile , or burn it
Great advice! 😀
A very helpful video full of sound advice on how to battle the dread weeds, thank you so very much :)
Thanks with info .. i use a gas burner but soil has to be ventilate also
Happily i have a small garden !!!!
I have discovered it generally takes me 3 to 4 years to completely clear a raised garden planter here in Louisiana. The initial 2 years will want to make you pull your hair out but by the 4th it becomes a real joy.
Patience always pays off!
This video is just another reason why I LOVE this channel! Thank you so much!! :D
The thumb shows dandelions, which are medicinal, highly nutritious from root to flower and an essential source for bees.
Yes, there's definitely a balance to be had. Not all weeds are 'bad' - and almost all offer a valuable source of nectar and pollen.
Thanks for your great little video. I'm in the process of extracting each and every weed in my lawn. And then after scarifying and re-seeding I'll employ a zero tolerence approach!
That's the spirit! Although I have to say that a few 'weeds' left in the lawn are actually a good thing for wildlife.
Sometimes you just have to use weedkiller. My garden hadn't been dug in 7 years. I had a 4 inch mat of bindweed and grass roots that I couldn't get a fork or spade into. I blasted it with weedkiller then dug it over with a JCB. Pulled out a pile of weed roots as high as my chest. Now I have thistles, dandelions, etc growing. The bindweed and grass roots suppressed the thistles.
Mulch(wood chips) also help keep slugs out
Nut grass is the bane of my garden here in Southern California. Pull as I may, deep down below is a nut like rootball that spreads far and wide and pops up another shoot. Daily struggle.
This might be controversial, but my mom would place a drop of herbicide on each nut grass. She did this for about 2 years. Since then, there is no nut grass on her lawn while her neighbor’s does. She is hyper vigilant about pulling out any new ones, but does not use the herbicide.
I took over an abandoned allotment this year. I’m doing no dig but struggling with the amount of couch grass, brambles, bindweed and docks I’ve lots of nettles too but I find these easier to pull up with the roots x
Hope you win the battle with these weeds!
I always think that weeding my quite big garden is like spinning plates on top of poles - you no sooner get the last one spinning than you have to dash back to the beginning and spin again to make sure the plates don’t fall off 😂😂😂
So true Lynne, so true!
Weeds have taken a back seat to bugs in my garden. My gorgeous spaghetti squash was cut down in its prime by a borer. Four years in a row, freezing, flooding and bugs. I'm not giving up. Weeds are the least of my worries. I started with the newspaper/compost plan from an almanac.com video. Worked great-for weeds.
Never give up Laurie!
Fascinating to see how mulching prevents the weeds growing. ( You've convinced me of the benefits but I don't really understand how this works. Is the compost not just like the soil that the weeds are already growing in?)
The idea is that the compost is mostly free of weed seeds. Therefore by placing onto the soil, you are burying the weed seeds in the soil further down, which makes it harder for them to germinate/reach the soil surface. The result if fewer weeds.
My raised vegetable garden is looking pretty decent probably owing to the fact that we just built it 4 years ago. However, my perennial flower garden is an absolute mess. Our previous neighbors had thistle feeders and the seeds evidently found their way into the flowers. This was 15 years ago and I am still battling thistles. Also creeping Charlie, quack grass, clover, and numerous other little demons that refuse to be gone. Admittedly, I am not the best at daily gardening. Tried the black plastic covering last year and put the fall leaves over to keep it in place. The thistles are pushing right through the plastic barrier. UGH!
Loved this video to help me double my efforts in weed control. Going out to sharpen my hoe and get on it now!
Great tips on keeping the weeds out! Thanks.
In my second year of having an allotment and can say the weeds really are winning. I have a plan though to put paths in so no need to weed them and to have a lot more mulching done. We may be losing the fight but we have not lost the war, yet.
Battle on brave soldier, battle on!
I have decided to make weeding a daily practice; just as some people meditate, do yoga, and exercise, I get the daily weeding in, doing my best to keep on top of making four abandoned, toxic-with-chemicals, acres, eventually organic. The best time to easily pull weeds is during and right after rain, when any hard, compacted soil is looser about weed roots. There are so many deer allowed to rampage through here I pick up between ten and fifteen pounds of their excrement each morning, and I have found that using old cut up tee shirt material, cut into long, continuous strips, then tied between trees, bushes and posts, will keep them out of sections of my four acres because they cannot see very well. The deer eat everything, except the weeds, and I can never decide which I detest more.
Crab grass and hard dirt here in SoCal. Ugh.
Our biggest weed problem is with winter creeper. Two or three years ago, my husband spent just about all spring and a good bit of the summer pulling and digging it out of our yard. It's one of those perennials that seeds roots deep and spreads both over and underground. That year and most of the next, we were pretty much free of winter creeper, but it has started to return, no doubt because it overcame one of our next-door neighbor's holly bushes, and, apparently, he didn't realize it was not a desirable plant. So, it flowers, the birds eat its seeds, and, thus, it spreads.
That is so frustrating!
My biggest weeding gripe has always been the need to weed the pathways between beds. This year, I put down cardboard in all the rows and covered the cardboard with a 3-4 inch layer of wood chips donated by local tree companies. The wood chips don't bring in weed seeds. A big up-front investment of time, but has paid off handsomely. I'm hoping for a couple of seasons without pathway weeds.
Nice video! Thank you. 👍🏻
Hi there, really enjoy your videos have learnt so much! I seem to remember a video ages ago with a recipe for homemade weed killer to use over gravel, could you provide a link to it I can't seem to find it... Many thanks!
Here you go Tom: ua-cam.com/video/mphRVXG7ynY/v-deo.html
@@GrowVeg perfect! Thanks!
Thank you. Great tips. Been feeling overwhelmed by the crabgrass in our veg garden!
Try this: forget a fall garden this year. Cut it short with a mower, then go over it with a weed-eater until you just have dirt showing. Water/soak it well, then cover it with black plastic and rocks or bricks to hold it down. Next spring, when you uncover it, you'll see where the survivors have grown. They will be yellow with white tendrils growing everywhere (they've come up to the surface). Water well the night before, then first thing in the morning lift it all with a steal fork, and pull them out roots and all. There will always be a couple missed, but be diligent to grab a shovel at least once a week to get ALL the roots. Eventually you'll get ALL of them. I did. Now I'm working on a 12" garden edging that goes 6 inches down to KEEP it out!
no matter how many times I pull the weed it seems as though 2 grow in its place, I hired someone to clean out my weeds but the weeds grew back with a vengence. I am going to pull the weeds again then cover the area with black plactic and hope for the best.
Good luck!
Great tips - provided you are persistent, and methodical. I can be the former but am seldom the latter. Were there more time, I'd probably do a better job of controlling if not getting rid of the weeds we have altogether. Most aggravating I find to be: Creeping Woodsorrel (the deep tap roots are a bear to remove, and this weed spreads incredibly fast) Dandelions (roots break off easily if not dug up properly), Crab Grass (spreads extremely fast, but relatively easy to pull out if not on lawn and when plants are young). There's more, but these three are my absolute worst. I will be mulching heavily and will try covering the ground in one area where we haven't decided what to plant yet. But my lawn is, I fear, not faring well.
It's bind weed in our community garden. Most folk are fighting the good fight but if a few aren't diligent it spreads so fast. I made the mistake of filling the paths with cardboard and wood-chips and this seemed to make it more aggressive...ugh!
In our community garden, we have "renamed" bindweed to "the evil vine". Year after year, we have a little less of it through a diligent weeding campaign but it is definitely the most persistent of them all in our area!
Great advice. Thank you. My war on bindweed is on!
UGH! My war is with Bermuda Grass.
Just taken on a full size allotment an it is riddled with bind weed, the strands ran about 10 feet and 2feet high. I just feel i have to strip of the top 4-6" brign in new but clean the roots out of the soil over time
Oh wow, that sounds like a tough undertaking. I hope you manage to bring it under control soon.
I'm in the midst of what will likely be a very long battle with invasive blackberry vines. Dug them all out three times this year so far and they're back again!
Stay with it Julia - you'll win the battle eventually!
Thank you for the advice.
Love your videos. Wondering if you have any advise on getting rid of 'Kikuyu'. I live in the subtropical part of NZ, so no frosts.
Appreciate any sugestions
Thanks
It looks a bit like our couch grass, which can spread quite quickly. I would be inclined to smother areas of kikuyu with sheet mulching. Black sheeting to block the light and make it run out of energy. Or you could mow it down and cover with multiple layers of cardboard to exhaust and kill it.
great tip Grow veg to cover the compost with plastic. Im going to try that! I would call you by your name if I knew what it was....lol
I learn at least ONE tip on every video, and Ive been doing this for a long time. Just goes to show, we need to keep an OPEN mind! thanks again.
Glad we're giving you plenty of tips. Thanks for watching!
any tricks o getting reed of any and all weds without chemicals
Check out our video on this very topic! ua-cam.com/video/tZ1nGKY5sLg/v-deo.html
Just realised you were commenting on this very video! You could also check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/5Ojl28uJeUo/v-deo.html
2:23 That fits you well. 🙂
ment to say any and all kinds of tricks on getting red of weeds may be by changing the type of soil i have in my soil?what do you think
Just got to read the rest of your message! Yes, this is one thing you could do as a last resort, but it would very labour intensive and potentially rather costly. Better if you can just smother the weeds, which, in time, will eventually give up and die.
Any advice for keeping tools clean please? Does a bucket of sand and oil work? Thank you
Yes, you could store tools in a bucket of lightly oiled sand to keep them clean and protected from moisture.
I’d like to remove weeds that have many horizontal runner roots so that I can plant perennials in a plant bed. How long do I need to leave cardboard down to kill the weeds? Also, there are plants intermingled with weeds - Should I cover these with cardboard too? I want to make sure these weeds are gone before I replant since I removed th once already and they can back with a vengeance! I used a plant identifier app and it says the weeds are “creeping bellflower” but I’m not sure if this is correct as I’ve never seen it flower. Thank you!!!
How long you leave cardboard on can vary according to the weeds, the soil, time of year etc. I would leave the cardboard down for at least two months, but up to four if there are still lots of shoots under there. Once you've knocked them back any regrowth should be much easier to stay on top of. You may need to replace the cardboard a few times as it starts to break down.
It is a constant battle in our garden, both with weeds and deer. We bought our house a few years ago and it has a beautiful garden with 24 raised beds, but it's just too much. I try and keep most of the beds covered with black plastic until we're ready to use. Fun, but so much work.
Mine is constant battle with squirrels digging up anything not netted.
Oh Lordy, we have tons of squirrels but maybe I just don't notice the damage they do yet. LOL.
Mine love to shoot dirt out of pots. Just lost 2 basil plants because of it....sigh.....
li059016 I have the same problem. Netting seems to be the only way to stop squirrels destroying my hard work.
What you recommend for a green manure/ground cover? I live in SLC UTAH. Zone 5a to 7b
Lots of options for you, depending on the time of year. At this stage you could try clover, or maybe winter field beans next month. More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/XvERk9kwmVI/v-deo.htmlsi=ajCU5Cboc7SLlZ4h
Good information thankyou.
We live in the deep south US and it is a constant battle with weeds. Everything grows SO quickly in the heat and almost daily rains. We even have rhizome type grasses grown up through 15" raised beds. Worst part of gardening.
we live up north in Canada in the Yukon and we started eating some weeds; this year it took so long untill the vegies started growing but lots of fireweed and lambsquarter
I know that some weeds are fairly nutritious, but are they at all tasty?
I garden in So California and the Bermuda grass is the worst! Yes it will grow easily through 15" of soil, and I don't think it needs any moisture at all except maybe that of other dying weeds (ha ha). I am in full on skirmish mode right now trying to clear it before I put done new raised bed.
Bermuda grass is the new super food!
I remember those rhizome grasses from when I lived in Georgia. I live in Michigan now and don't miss them (or the hard red clay and fire ants) at all.
I have a 50x80 foot garden and this year Nut sedge and creeping charlie has taken over and won. I used clear plastic for a month but the stuff came right back. I don't really want to, but am ready to use chemicals in my vegetable garden. Help!!!
Don't despair Tom. Getting on top of weeds isn't an over-night job - it can take many months, sometimes a full year. Keep up the good work!
Love the video but I would love to hear your comments on oxalis. I have removed several large sack-loads from my veggie garden over the last few years and yet I am getting nowhere. What is so frustrating is it was imported in topsoil. We do not have oxalis anywhere else on the property!
You could perhaps try covering over the soil when it isn't being cropped, to exclude light from the growing area and weaken them. They can indeed get everywhere. One option could be to completely cover the ground with light-excluding membrane, then cut Xs in the membrane to plant sprawling veggies through it, such as squashes. This way you can still get some use out of the ground while it's being cleansed of weeds.
Can you do a video on growing Saffron Crocus?
Thanks for the suggestion - we'll add this on to our list of ideas for future videos.
I would love to know how to get rid of bermuda grass. We have it everywhere. It has managed to make its way up into my raised beds and it is a constant battle in the flower beds as well. Suggestions would be great!
When weeds are so thick and prevalent it's sometimes worth starting again, by covering the ground over to suffocate the weeds. It may take up to six months, but you'll eventually be left with clean soil to plant into.
What is the name of that hoe sharpened in the video or where can I find it?
My weed foe is quack grass coming in from neighbors yards along the fences.
I’ve pretty much eradicated it in my beds through mulch and persistent pulling but I may never be without it.
I just continue to pull runners.
It's a draw hoe, sometimes also referred to as a push-pull weeder. They are widely available, on Amazon for example.
GrowVeg thank you!
Who is right? One gardener says that remaining roots grow again, and another says that a piece of the tap root will decay and die! Which is it?
If the roots of annual weeds are left in the ground they will just rot away. If the weeds of perennial weeds are left in the ground they may well grow again - that's very common. So best to remove the roots too.
We have bermuda so bad that I can hardly garden in ground anymore. Plus we have clay soil and it’s very difficult to pull even when damp. Impossible when dry! Any advice on how to amend the soil so it’s easier to work? Short of replacing the top 12 inches! Which is tempting but way too much work!
It all comes down to completely covering the soil to deny it of any sunlight, which will, over time, help to bring the bermuda grass under control. You could if you wish place a thick layer of compost over the bermuda grass before covering it. This will help to further 'suffocate' the grass, and while it is covered with plastic or cardboard or whatever, the earthworms below can be turning in all that goodness. As the bermuda rots down, it too will add valuable organic matter and nutrients, in much the same way as a cover crop would.
Will Oxalys die if i give it the black polythene treatment, please? Does it tale longer because it has bulbs?
It may take longer, but if you cover them when they are actively growing they should eventually give up.
@@GrowVegthank you. I really appreciate how well you explain things and demonstrate them on your videos.
Thank you, really helpful.
I have a small parcel where soil is mostly made of solid clay, so most of the these operations are much harder. I digged/plowed the first year as good as I could, I'm thinking of continuing manual removal of weeds and then use cover crops to reduce their space.
Are some weeds actually good for the soil?
Yes, annual weeds that haven't flowered (and therefore set seed) are fine to dig into the soil and, in fact, act as a cover crop by adding valuable organic matter into the soil.
great tips! flame weeder is another organic option, or letting your chickens into the garden prior to planting.
ILBackyardFarm - chickens is a good idea although they eat the beneficial bugs too such as earth worms.
I've been thinking of getting a propane weed burner. However, I know in some particularly dry areas they could pose a fire hazard.
ILBackyardFarm I’m sending this info and this connection to our son who tried a garden in middle yard. Weeds soon took over. Thanks for info Our garden consists of 12 large containers, over planted them this year. Will plant less per pot this fall.
good point
haha, yes..use it cautiously especially if you're in a drought
Great, thank you!
The previous owner had planted ivy in the garden. I have been fighting this demon plant since 2004. I don't want to use anything that would render the ground inhospitable for chosen plantings. What do I do?
Put down several layers of newspaper or a layer of cardboard and 8 inches or so of compost. Do not til the garden after this as it will bring the seeds or roots to the surface to grow again. this will make a big difference right away but you have to keep after it or one little one may start the battle all over again. Essentially you are burying the ivy from sun and water killing it off.
You might also try spraying the weeds with horticultural vinegar (20%). That will kill most plants but is an organic solution. You should probably test the soil afterward, once the weeds are gone, to make sure it isn't too acidic, or, if it is, to let you know how to even the pH back out. You might also try putting down several layers of newspaper before spraying them with the vinegar.
Would "Hot Heap" composting kill weed roots and seeds?
Yes, potentially, as the temperature rises very hot and kills them off. However, I'd be nervous that any material at the sides of the heap wouldn't get hot enough to kill it all off, so perennial weed roots especially could survive.
Hello!
I am trying to prevent my plants being killed off by bindweed which is coming from next doors garden ( they never go out there and their whole garden is covered with it ) it not only comes through the fence but under and over ( not easy to get to that until it grows down my side and atacks my roses as garden on a steep slope so getting to top of fence not so easy as to steep for ladders) it and I have to constantly check every area but its slowly spreading under my garden and popping up further and further into it - its already killed a couple of young plants as it appears feet long almost overnight and I literally missed it among them. Any ideas what I can do - am keeping organic and have dogs that are allowed to roam my garden?
Why not offer to come next door and clear a foot of space from your mutual fence?
It will make your life much happier, for the time it takes.
Also, if you can do this weeding itn the rain or just after a good rain it will be super easy.
I have a problem with bindweed also, and believe me, clearing a foot of the neighbor's ground would only last a few days or so. I have been fighting 4 acres of bindweed for the past 4 years since we moved to an acreage covered with it. Do not have a good solution, because even covering areas with plastic mulch or anything else only encourages the roots to grow longer under it until it comes out the other end. It's exasperating!
This is a really difficult one because the bindweed will keep on coming from next door. The only solution is to carry on as you are, which isn't very helpful I know. You can lay membrane over beds and borders and plant through this, but that may be a lot of work for a whole garden! I think the only way you'd get on top of the bindweed is to work with your neighbour on its elimination.
Momma Bearuk, i've had this issue before, my self, theres a chance you can build root barriers between their and your yard. If you have the means, along the fence thats being invaded; dig a trench parallel to the fence, and insert galvanized metal or a plastic sheet. back fill with dirt.
Thanks might do that - if maybe wall is stopping it travel to side garden under wall then a nice trench filled with basically a wall of bricks below ground might just do the trick - already a layer of bricks around whole back garden to stop dogs trying to dig under the fences ( not these dogs but previous ones who loved digging there). So will just take it further but add mortar. Son will enjoy digging this :)
So do we deprive weeds of sunlight for one whole year?
The very well-established perennial weeds may need depriving of sunlight for up to a year, but a few months during the growing season is normally enough to kill them off.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are there any weeds you WOULDN’T put into the bucket of water - as mentioned?
No. As long as they are left in the water for long enough, ANY weed will eventually succumb!
Thanks for sharing :-)
any additional advice to defeat poison ivy....which is winning!
Bury it under newspapers or cardboard and 8 inches or more of compost, then do not till again. Some plants or weeds only need one seed or root exposed to the right growing conditions to take over.
thanks
Ughh, I used an organic manure compost this year. It was full of weeds!!!!
li059016 tip I only use chicken pellets top dressing plus I soak and water down IE pint milk bottle to a water can hope this helps 👍👍
That's hugely frustrating. Hope you have better luck next time.
Thanks. I usually put down black fabric, but they even came up through it.
I love chicken pellets. Have yet to see them in my area. When I lived in South Florida they were easier to get. And I live in a more rural area now (Maine)
I am fighting so called "witch grass" in my Maine garden. After two fallow seasons, it has taken over with a vengeance. The roots are very thick and deep, and roto-tilling only seems to make it worse, breaking up the roots, spreading them and burying them again. I have raked my 1500 sq. foot plot over four or five times and came up with at least 10 wheelbarrow loads of roots, and it hardly seems to make a difference. But I will not give up. I found a source for 8"-14" wide strips of carpeting, which doesn't blow away, lets moisture through, and effectively blocks the weeds. I can easily lay strips between established rows, or overlap strips to cover larger areas. I am now on the lookout for old rugs and carpeting in larger sizes, which I can use to cover large areas this fall when the crops come out.
Eat the ones you can.
We have a video on that too! ua-cam.com/video/uxpMKkcQRgI/v-deo.html
👍
You've never met a real weed until you've met cane grass in Hawaii :)
When I first moved here 6 years ago, I could easily see where his garden was, there was zero growth in the hardpan clay. All around the garden was 6 foot weeds. I waited for a hardy rain, then easily yanked them out of the muddy clay (I didn't use them for compost, just burned them all). After telling/showing the local Farm Co-op what I had, they sold me gypsum, perlite (huge bag course), vermiculite (also huge bag), bone meal, greensand, blood meal, and 2 bales of straw. I remember asking how much I needed of each for my 4-25' rows, and he said, "Just use ALL of it!" LOL! Anyway, it was the best investment I've ever made. Since then, I've added 12 more rows (4 rows each of next 3 years), and bought exactly the same products each time. Have had to add poultry netting around parts of the garden, because the raccoons have discovered it... but my freezer is always full!
That's brilliant Annie - sounds like you hit upon the perfect formula there!
Dude...you wearing a dress? 2:22
Ben, relax what if he was the guy behind the camera for that video clip?
sams7725 I’m relaxed. It was just a question and attempting to be somewhat humorous.
Dude, so what? There's nothing automatically funny or weird about someone choosing a dress no matter what their wobbly bits look like