So my method TWO involved knowing the difference between annual and perennial weeds, and really going to town on those nasty perennials with their nutrient-rich roots. Since some of them will reappear from root fragments left behind, you’ll have to remain vigilant until you’ve got them all, every last one of them.
OK, so in all likelihood you’ll still be at your fight against the perennials next year, but it’ll get much easier, trust me. Eventually you’ll only have a handful of perennials left, quite literally, here and there around the place, and by now they’ll be old friends of yours. These survivors probably have very old root fragments that are very deep down in the soil, and they are likely located in awkward places where digging them out would be a major hassle. In these circumstances your other old friend is a shot of Round-up. Give these most stubborn weeds a chance to develop some nice fresh young leaves that are still growing, hit them on a sunny day, wait patiently for 2-3 weeks, and they should be gone. If they have developed an immunity - I hear that is happening - then try another herbicide. Personally I haven’t found this necessary.
Meanwhile, you can go to work on strategy THREE:
THREE: Totally eliminate one annual weed type at a time.
This is a great strategy, because here you’re eliminating both weeds and their seeds in your soil! Pick one type of annual weed. Go around your garden pulling these up and ignoring all the others. In uprooting a weed, you must make a point of getting the crown of the plant, the hard nub where the stem joins the root. I find an old kitchen knife a handy tool for getting under it. For now just concentrate on this one particular annual villain, and try not to be distracted by the other weed types you’ll notice as you go. Sure, you can pull them up if it makes you feel better, but understand that you won’t make any permanent gains here.
Under no circumstances allow that temptation to keep you from completing your elimination project!
Why? Because by getting one type and all it’s nearby kith and kin, you’ve put a major kink in the sex life of this plant. No mates, no seeds, no babies next year, no more problems with it.
Maybe you have a large place and not much time, so just concentrate on the one species for now. Next year, next weed…
Or, if you have a smaller place, once you’ve eliminated your first one, you will feel the joy, the blood-lust! You can move on to the next species. By now you may actually be looking forward to eliminating it too!
Another way of looking at this method is: if, like most people you simply weed what happens to be in front of you at the moment, that’s hit and miss, and it’s a losing strategy. Elsewhere you will be leaving a few of each species on your place. You really haven’t gained much, have you? Those weeds you left elsewhere will reproduce just like they do every year, so next growing season you’ll be right back to square one. No real gain there!
Change your strategy! Ignore some species for now and really concentrate on eradicating your target plant. Totally eliminate it for this year and future years. This will give you a great feeling.
Oh, and all the while, you’re letting those darling forgetmenots fill in the spaces. Weeds love spaces. But forgetmenots fill spaces that other weeds would love to occupy, and forgetmenots are easy to remove when you need to clear a space.
Note, keep your eyes on things, because birds, the wind, and so forth, may re-introduce seeds from your neighbours’ property. Also, some weed seeds may survive in the soil for awhile, so remain vigilant.
The baby weedlings that will pop up are very easy to remove because they don’t have established root systems. Also, it’s easy to grab them by the crown. You will win out in the end, I promise you. I have hardly done any weeding at all for the last 2-3 years. I cannot remember weeding at all this past year, except for a few seedlings in the pathway and pulling my forgetmenots out where I’m building a stone patio. They are easy-peasy to remove. Somebody - I think it was Steve - asked me how deep their roots go. Answer - less than 1".
By the way, I’m sending Steve some Forgetmenot seeds later this year. Let me know if you want some as well, as I will be throwing out millions of them.
Bonus method FOUR: (This was probably my method one actually.)
You’re probably not going to like this, but here goes: Method FOUR: Regard grass as a weed.
I love grass in public spaces where somebody else takes care of it, but I have a whole lot of prejudices against it in my own yard. I’ll spare you: long story short: life is short enough; a lawn seems to me to be a major maintenance nuisance and expense and, perhaps worse, grass tends to crop up all over the place. I guess you either love it or hate it.
There isn’t a single blade of any kind of grass anywhere on my property, front or back. I dug it all up and replaced it with a variety of alternatives, mostly flowerbeds, but also paths and groundcovers. The front yard is just one enormous flowerbed. Good riddance.
Anyway, the result is that I don’t spend any time maintaining a lawn or weeding grass out from between my tracks, pavers, or anywhere else, I don’t water a lawn or mow one or spray one either. Each year the birds drop a few grass seeds. I treat the sprouts like any other weed. As soon as it’s sprouted it’s gone. You can simply toss these weedlings onto the ground or pathway and they’ll dry up and blow away. No fuss, no muss.
If you must have a lawn, then be aware that every grass plant on the place is a potential source of seeds. However, don’t let this little idiosyncracy of mine prevent you from employing my other techniques for winning against weeds.
More to come…
