The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K. Norris

Author:Melissa K. Norris
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736977623
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2019-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

NATURAL WEED CONTROL

We must talk about the elephant in the garden: weeds. I must confess, weeding isn’t high on my list of fun gardening tasks. I love the way the garden looks after weeding, but the actual act, not my fave. But good weed control is important for a large harvest, especially with crops that don’t produce well if competing for nutrients with said weeds (onions and asparagus, I’m talking to you).

If weeding brings up visions of hours bent over or on hands and knees pulling weeds, take heart; this doesn’t have to be the case, my friends. Like most things in the garden, there are several options, and I’ll leave it to you find the one that works the best for your situation. Rest assured, all of them are natural.

Natural Weed Control Methods

Like most gardeners, you’ll find what works best for you, and it will probably involve several different methods. These have been effective for us without using harmful herbicides that stay in the soil for years and are a known human carcinogenic.

1. Mulch. Usually either hay/straw, wood chips, or sawdust. All the options work by starving the weeds of sunlight provided it’s deep enough. The use of wood chips was made popular by Paul Gautschi, founder of Back to Eden Gardening, and author/gardener Ruth Stout brought the use of hay as weed control to the masses. The key to mulching is spreading the hay and wood chips on the top of the soil thickly enough to block the light for weed control. The beauty of these methods is that they not only help block weeds but also break down and improve the condition of your soil long term. I’ve used both methods in different beds on our homestead, and we’ll still have some weeds come up, but not nearly as many—and they’re easier to pull out of the ground.

You’ll want to make sure hay has not been treated with herbicides, and avoid using black walnut wood chips. Hay can bring in weed seed; some people prefer to use straw, while others make sure the hay is deep enough so the seeds don’t germinate easily.

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