7 Ways to Keep Weeds Out of Your Garden Beds

With all the rain we have been receiving lately, my garden beds are rather abundant.  Unfortunately, almost all the greenery is weeds. I have been quite busy so far this year and am only now getting around to trying to set aside some time to get a spring garden planted. Of course, now I must first contend with the weed situation before I can move on to the fun part.

Since all this much-needed rain has left me dealing with weeds in my garden beds right now, I thought some of you might be dealing with them as well and could maybe use some ideas about how to limit weed growth among our food plants. I know I have talked about natural weed prevention in past columns, but many of those methods are not suitable for use around food plants or other desirable plants. Options like salt, cornmeal, boiling water, and vinegar do not discriminate between weeds and wanted plants, so we need to move beyond these easy options when we are removing weeds from our vegetable gardens.

1. Hoe or pull existing weeds.
Whether or not you have already planted your desirable plants, you need to remove the undesirable ones before we can do anything else about it. So, if your garden beds do not have food plants (or you can hoe around them) and are low enough and large enough to hoe, use a hoe to remove weeds. If they are raised beds or it is difficult to get to the weeds around wanted food plants, pull them by hand. While hoeing and weeding can put stress on your body and are not the easiest way to kill weeds, they are the most effective way to make sure the entire weed plant and roots are removed. I use a Hori Hori garden knife for removing weeds – and lots of other tasks in the garden – which makes weed removal much easier.

2. Mind the weeds in surrounding areas.
Most weeds did not start out in your garden beds. Those seeds blew over from some other part of your yard or were left by a bird or other critter visiting your garden. While you cannot stop weed seeds from migrating from your neighbors’ yards, you can keep the weeds down on your own property to help limit seeds finding their way into your garden.

3. Irrigate carefully.
Water only the areas where there are wanted seeds or plants and avoid watering bare areas of your garden where weed seeds might be waiting for an opportunity to sprout. The easiest way to do this is to install a drip system or use soaker hoses.

4. Disturb the soil as little as possible.
The less you disturb the soil, the lower the risk of weed seeds germinating in your garden. Mix in compost and amendments to prepare your soil but avoid tilling the whole garden to remove weeds and prepare the ground.

5. Use non-living ground covers around food plants.
Cover any bare earth in your garden with non-living ground covers, such as mulch, bark, wood chips, or straw. If you choose bark or wood chips, make sure to choose natural options that have not been dyed. Cover the ground around your plants with at least two inches of one of these natural materials to prevent weed growth. Make sure you to leave the base of your food plants clear by keeping the ground cover a few inches away from the base.

6. Try growing your food plants closer together.
Rather than thinning out your carrots, beets, and other food plants, allow them to grow closer together. They will not all perform equally, but you will end up with a larger harvest and less space for weeds to take hold.

7. Stay on top of weed removal.
It is easiest to remove weeds when they are first emerging, so stay on top of pulling weeds while they are seedlings. If you do not have time to check for weeds every few days, at least make sure you pull them before they go to seed and exacerbate the problem.

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