Beginner’s Guide to Weeding – Part Two

Okay, so you have your landscape barrier and your top dressing that I talked about in part one of the beginner’s guide to weeding. Fantastic work, but what gives as you still see weeds? Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), nature is resilient and plants that you don’t want will still find a way into your yard. Seeds will drift into your yard or be transplanted by birds. This is your garden though and you get to have some say in which plants are welcome and those that are. Since you have set yourself up for fewer weeds, the weeds that sprout up should be fewer and also much easier to remove.

Tips for pulling up weeds yourself

I love that old saying, how do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time. Some kind of goes for weeding. A few minutes of weeding every few days can keep weeds in check.

When I weed a large area, it may seem counter-intuitive, but I take a hose and I water the area thoroughly. This is only if it has not rained much in the past few days. I know in some parts of the country, summer rains are a thing and so if the ground is moist, this doesn’t apply to you. In every part of California that I’ve lived in, this does apply though. After you water, wait 15 minutes and you can even water again. This loosens the soil from the roots and makes pulling them up that much easier.

When you do pull weeds, find the base of the weed, get a firm grip and tug. Sometimes if it doesn’t release easily, I kind of jostle it from side to side, loosening the roots and try again. If the root is in the ground, there is a possibility that it may grow, but if that does happen, don’t beat yourself up. No one is perfect.

Use the right tools for weeding

Bully hoe and Stirrup hoe make the job of weeding large and small areas so much easier. I find that a simple hand weeder is a game changer for removing weeds with a tap root, like dandelions. They are inexpensive and do a much better job or making sure the root comes out.

Getting kids to help with weeding

Weeding can be fun to do with kids. I mean this too! It isn’t always fun to do with kids just like anything, but making a game of it can be fun. We have competitions on who can fill a bucket first and we take breaks when we find cool things in the garden to show each other (like insects or interesting plants). Another competition for weeding is to find how many different weeds you can pull. If you have a particularly vast amount of weeds, this can be fun. It is always fun too to talk about how each weed/plant spreads its seeds as well.

To make it fun though, these sessions need to be short and not be a punishment. Like anything with kids, little kids may only pull a few, while larger kids can pull more. Keep your expectations realistic and know that while your immediate goal is to clear the weeds, the ultimate goal is to teach them to love and care for gardens.

What to do if have a large area of weeds to remove?

It can be overwhelming if you have a large section of your yard that is covered in weeds. It may be too much to remove by hand. I have some options that may be of help.

Mow Your Weeds

If you have a lawn, you may get weed seeds in your grass, but likely they would blow there anyway. Mowing down weeds before they flower or go to seed, helps mulch the land and also reduces infestation. You can also do a small patch with a weed whacker. After you are done, mulching the area to prevent new growth can be helpful in reducing weeds in the future.

Let goats eat your weeds

I grew up on five acres and we had several different farm animals over my lifetime, but the one constant was goats. Not only are they funny animals (that can be quite friendly if bottle fed as kids), but they will eat almost everything, even poison oak and thistles. They will eat all of your wildflowers too, but it is worth it to maintain weeds. They are natures lawn movers with the added benefit that there nugget sized droppings dry quickly (unlike cow patties) so you don’t have to watch where you step and they naturally fertilize your yard.

If you don’t want to own goats to perform this service, there are places where you can rent them. I have heard good things about ELM Goats in San Diego, but likely wherever you live also has this service.

Solarize your weeds

It is essentially the same process that I described for killing your lawn. The good news about this option is that it kills the seeds and there is very little effort involved. Note that this method works best in full sun.

1. Water your weeds.
2. Get a large sheet of black plastic.
3. Lay it over the area where you would like to kill the weeds.
4. place heavy objects or rocks so it won’t blow around.
5. Wait several weeks for the sun to kill your weeds then remove plastic and mulch area for the next year.

I am curious if you have methods that you have found helpful in removing weeds from your yard. Please add it as a comment below.