Weeds.  Everyone has them.  It seems like we deal with more weed pressure in the summer than any other time of year.  I would love to say we have a weed-free space, but that just isn’t true and it isn’t realistic.  We’ve made some mistakes, but we’ve also found some things that work for us in keeping weeds to a minimum.

First, let me begin by saying that we do not use any chemicals in weed suppression.  That is a choice we make for a lot of reasons, but we find that staying on top of them helps tremendously.  We have tilled our plots in the past and what I have found is that if you do not rake out all of the grass seed and tarp, you will have an abundance of grass/weeds come back.

Cover Crops

We use cover crops on any empty bed.  Depending on the season, that could be a mix of oats/peas, buckwheat, or crimson clover.  When we are ready to plant, I will weed eat that down and tarp it so the nutrients can return to the soil.  For our pathways, we mostly use Dewitt Weed/Landscape Barrier.  It is a plastic based product, but we have found that traditional weed barriers from home improvement stores are not sufficient in keeping crabgrass at bay.  Because we are in a warmer climate (8B), we do not use any weed barrier where we plant.

Mulch

Another method we have used that has been helpful is a combination of cardboard and mulch.  Cardboard with no color or tape can be placed, dampened, and then a layer of mulch is added to the top of it.  You can also plant into the cardboard as it will break down over time.  This does a great job of keeping weeds out with minimal effort.

Tools We Recommend

We try to keep every bed we plant mulched which will help with weed suppression, but a weekly/biweekly check on weeds helps tremendously.  I use a narrow collinear hoe on most areas.  It doesn’t require digging into the soil, but grazing the surface to remove weeds.  I also use this hand weeder to easily pull weeds up by the root.  Another tool that is extremely helpful is a Hori-Hori knife.  Not only is it great for chopping weeds with it’s serrated edge, it can be extremely helpful in making holes for planting.