Weeds & How to Deal With Them
Dandelions actually have great health benefits for humans in addition to feeding pollinators.
The definition of a weed is “a plant that grows where you don’t want it to.”
Dandelion is a common weed that we’ve all become accustomed to, but the entire reason it exists in North America is that it was planted here intentionally as a salad green/vegetable by European settlers.
I drink dandelion tea regularly for its health benefits.
So, obviously, whether or not a dandelion plant is being a weed or not depends on where it’s growing and if one wants it or not.
Also, there are lots of plants and trees that we love and plant intentionally, but which have an unfortunate habit of aggressively self-seeding or spreading by rhizomes or rooting, sometimes becoming invasive and threatening entire native ecosystems.
For this reason, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the most common invasives in your area of the planet.
Mimosa trees are pretty landscape trees, but their aggressive self-seeding can cause problems.
Solution Number One: Prevention
Keep ahead of weeds by making sure you
~ Avoid planting things that aggressively self-seed or spread, and
~ Use a thick layer of wood mulch, applied every spring, to all of your garden beds. A good layer of mulch prevents sunlight from reaching weed seeds and helps prevent a lot of the weed germination that would occur otherwise.
Solution Number Two: Pulling
After decades of dealing with them and trying every type of weed control and eradication technique, I’ve come to the conclusion that the absolute best way to eradicate weeds of any kind is by hand pulling.
That may not be what you wanted to hear, but let me share my reasoning and my method.
Reason #1 — Chemical sprays are about half as effective as they claim to be and require a substantial money investment if you have lots of weeds or live in an area where things really like to grow and weeds are popping up by the hour. I’ve found myself spraying constantly while the weeds pop up faster than I can spray them.
Reason #2 — Sprays are expensive (for something that disappears so quickly) and hand pulling is free
Reason #3 — Chemical sprays have an ecological impact that I’m not comfortable with. They sink into soil and enter our waterways, poisoning life (micro or macro). I’m not willing to kill things and disrupt the health of my soil using something which has a spotty success rate anyway.
Reason #4 — Smothering works, but takes a lot of time. If I have the time I will do it, but for most weeds this just isn’t practical.
Hand-pulling is the most effective, least expensive, and least toxic way to eliminate and control weeds.
My Method
After my many years of struggling with jungle weeds here in Houston, I’ve found that the easiest way to deal with weeds is to just
go outside every day that I can and spend 5 to 10 minutes pulling weeds by hand.
If I’m tackling an area that’s really infested, I’ll spend an entire day or half-day removing all the weeds I can just to get a handle on it, and then I’ll start my daily pulling after that.
There are a number of great tools out there that make hand weeding easier on your hands, knees, wrists, and back. I link to a couple of them on my Tools & Supplies page.
For weeds wedged in between concrete or pavers, I’ve found a simple flathead screwdriver works wonders.
NOTE – Do not put weeds in your compost pile if there are any seed heads on them! Put those in the trash. Otherwise your compost pile becomes a weed nursery.
So, in conclusion, prevention and hand pulling are my best practices for weed control. If you find a better way, I applaud you! But this is what I’ve found works best for me. Good luck out there!