Tip of the Week — 1/26/09

Posted in Gardening Tips on January 26 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

A Weedy Mess: Keeping My Life in Order

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.

I am always surprised by the long weekends we have in January and February. I seem to remember all the holidays except for the ones that sneak up in mid-winter. Since I never plan for them, they turn into three days of extended housecleaning. The piles on my desk diminish and bills finally get filed in the right place. During these moments, I swear to good housekeeping practices that I never abide by.

Gardening is much the same. If I abide by a few simple rules and good horticultural practices then I won’t find myself swamped with one big green, leafy mess. Today, I will focus on just one aspect of horticulture: good weeding practices. Here are a few simple tips to make weeding easier.

1. Keep your garden a reasonable size: Don’t be over ambitious. Be honest about how much time you intend to spend in your garden and how much work it will take.
2. Stagger your spring planting: Freshly cultivated soil is an invitation for weeds. If you plant your beds all at once, you will be weeding them at the same time. Stagger you planting over a few weeks.
3. Low maintenance plants for the low maintenance gardener: If you don’t like weeding, choose plants that out-compete weeds. Select plants with broad foliage and heavy branching or ones that are large, tall, or vigorous growers. If the plant is doing its job of filling up the space, there will not be enough room or light for weeds to enter.
4. Weed often: It’s important to weed often not only to keep weeds at bay, but also for your general health. If you try weeding your entire garden all at once, you will have sore muscles at the end of the day.
5. Attack flowering weeds or weeds that are about to flower first: If you let weeds go to seed, you will have an uphill battle. Prioritize by removing flowering weeds first.
6. Weed early in the season: Tiny weeds are easier to pull than big weeds. Early weeding also gives the plants you want in your garden a better chance of becoming established.
7. Hoe when dry, hand when wet: If your soil is dry, run a hoe through your garden. Weeds exposed to hot sun without any water will shrivel up and die in no time. Rake off the debris. If you try using a hoe when your soil is wet, weeds will simply re-root. When your soil is wet is the time to tackle deep-rooted weeds like dandelions—they will be much easier to pull

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