Keeping on top of weeds.

I admit I don’t mind weeding but of course it’s easy for the weeds to take over and the job becomes huge and demoralising rather than an hour of gently teasing them out.

There are ways to help keep weeds at bay.

1 ~ Try not to let them seed. ‘One year’s seeds, seven years’ weeds’ as the saying goes. When things are getting out of hand and you don’t have much time, cut off  the seeding heads.

2 ~ Don’t add weed seeds to the compost (unless you are sure it’s going to get to a high enough temperature to kill them). I often find that after adding compost to a bed or border, weeds quickly start to take over. It can be a nice surprise. Last year Honesty started popping up all over one of my beds. But it can also be a nuisance if it’s Nettles and Dandelions. They spread fast enough without us helping them.

3 ~ Mulch. See above. Mulches cover the soil, supressing weed seeds and locking in moisture and nutrients. Things to use are homemade compost, manufactured compost, well rotted manure or mushroom compost.

4 ~ Hoe. Here it’s a case of do as I say, not as I do. I rarely hoe though I always mean to. Hoeing on a warm day means little weeds will be pulled up and quickly wilt on the surface of the soil. Regular hoeing keeps them at bay.

5 ~ Little and often. This goes for hoeing and hand weeding. I say this as  reminder to myself. Keeping on top of the weeds and not letting them get out of hand is the way forward. Whipping out small weeds when you see them is so much easier then having to use a large fork on a huge clump of nettles.

6 ~ My favourite is to pack in the plants so there is no room for weeds!

Also if you try and learn to identify weed seedlings, you won’t find yourself nurturing weeds fondly hoping they’ll turn into flowers.

We’ll see how it goes this year, I have good intentions.