Defeat your weeds without weedkiller
Organic growing
Hans Wieland
Spring has finally arrived. The soil temperatures are up – good news for small seedling and plants. However, it is also just what the weeds have been waiting for.
Weeds often will germinate faster, grow more sturdily and out-compete your plants for space, light, water and nutrients. So how can we control them organically, without the use of chemical weedkillers?
Natural weed control
MULCHING works by preventing the light from reaching weed seeds and by impeding the growth of any seedlings that do emerge. Naturally, therefore, the most effective mulches are dense materials like leaf mould, bark chips and compost. Most will not kill existing weeds, so weed first and then mulch immediately. Other mulch materials include newspapers, card board and old cotton towels.
WEED-PROOF MEMBRANES are useful where long-term weed control is the priority. This is most appropriate around permanent and long-term planting, beneath shrubs, fruit bushes or in a strawberry bed. They can also be used on pathways with a layer of gravel, paving or bark on top.
WEED-SUPPRESSING CROPS can help. Some plants, such as potatoes, have sufficiently dense foliage to prevent light reaching emerging weed seedlings.
By following a crop-rotation plan, these crops get moved around and their weed-suppressing benefits are shared across your plot.
NO-DIG GARDENING will help keep your garden weed free. The soil contains dormant weed seeds that are buried too deeply to have any chance of germinating. If you dig, you will bring the seeds to the surface, and the light will trigger their germination.
HOEING is effective against both annual and perennial weeds – if you catch them at the seedling stage. Choose a dry day for hoeing, so that any weeds left on the surface will wither and die – otherwise rake them up and remove them.
Hoeing should be on all gardeners’ current to-do lists.
HAND WEEDING is useful for small areas where hoeing would cause damage to crops.
Hand weed when the soil is damp; if it is too dry, the weeds will break off in your hand leaving the root behind.
There’s always next year
Larger areas that you want to use quickly which are too big for hand-weeding and too far gone for hoeing will require digging or forking over so that the loosened weeds can be removed by hand. This is hard work and not to be recommended on a routine basis.
If you have taken on a particularly weedy plot and can afford to leave it for a season, then use a shears or strimmer to cut the weeds down to ground level. Lay overlapping cardboard or newspaper over the ground and top with a layer of straw or manure or compost. Cover the lot with a thick sheet of plastic. This way you are both improving the soil and killing the weeds. Leave in place till the following year by which time the weeds should be dead and all you will need to do is lift the plastic and fork the ground.
Hans Wieland is joint manager of The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co Leitrim, which offers courses, training and information in organic growing, and runs an Eco Shop and an online gardening store. For more information, visit www.theorganiccentre.ie, e-mail info@theorganiccentre.ie or phone 071 9854338. Questions or comments? Contact Hans at living@mayonews.ie.
