Weeding – Top Hoeing!

Weeding is a pain of any gardener but a necessity. Allowing weeds to grow in your garden or plots only reduces the nutrients that you wish to go into your plants. Although there has been a recent ‘save the weeds’ talk going on recently and we do seem to have a new found love for stinging nettle soup and shots – have any of you ever tried it? – Fully recommend as its stronger than wheatgrass!

For persistent little weeds, patience is key to beat them. You will never truly be able to 100% stop weeds in an area as there are so many external sources, which weeds arrive – wind, birds, mammals are the most common.

Disturbing or turning soil exposes dormant weed seeds in the soil and causes blooms of weeks in freshly dug areas. To combat these, simple keep digging over the area or use weed suppressant matting for a number of weeks after preparing a new bed.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a good way to kill these weeds is to quickly pull out / top any and leave them on the soil. After turning a new area, I will hoe the area every week to knock any weed sprouting up over. These will rot down and just add the nutrients they have used back into the soil, weakening established sub-soil roots until they eventually die.

You just have to keep doing this, try to keep on top of the weeds so that none have the chance to go to seed. If they do, instead of cut and drop, remove as much as possible and submerge the cuttings in water – do not shake it around too much when removing as you will spray seed everywhere. After a few weeks in a bucket, use the liquid as a feed for your plants…unless hot composting, do not add weeds with seeds to your compost piles – unless you want more weeds, of course!

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DOANG