To Hoe or Not to Hoe Weeds

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It’s weed season! Are you already exhausted just thinking about tackling your weeds? We can’t make them go away – – not instantly – – but we can’t give you tips to help reduce your weeds year over year, and eventually minimize their return to nearly gone, or at least easily manageable.

There are a number of ways to deal with weeds… Some more effective and safe than others. I have made a summary of my assessment of each method later in this article. But first, some ground rules for tackling weeds:

Rule #1 – Get to your weeds before they go to seed

Do not wait to remove weeds until they become dry and tan. By then, they have all “gone to seed” and no matter how you remove them, in the process they will drop seeds for next year’s weed crop. Make sure you deal with them while they are still green. You will also be more likely to get all their roots when they are still green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rule #2 – Try not to disturb your soil

Weed seeds thrive in disturbed soil. The more you hoe, the more you disturb the soil. This effectively tills the soil to sow next year seeds into the cozy new soil openings you have created. Hoeing, which is essentially “light tillage,” destroys microbial systems and soil structure, reduces organic matter, and leads to low nutrient levels and low soil moisture. It also exposes more weed seeds that were formally dormant – – but when they are exposed to fresh air, sunshine, and moisture, they germinate. By leaving your soil alone, you can avoid exposing millions of dormant weed seeds to sprout into life.

Rule #3 – Learn to identify your weeds.

Some weeds are more invasive than others, while some are actually beneficial, and some are even edible! The invasive weeds in our area that we should concentrate on removing include Sahara mustard, goat head, Arabian grass, annual burweed (ragweed), and Russian thistle (tumbleweed).

Some weeds however are edible, and can be used for a salad, a pizza topping, or sautéed as a pot herb. These include Lambs quarters or goosefoot, purslane, dandelion, pigweed (Amaranthus), chick weed, most wild mustards, and Russian thistle (tumbleweed) when it is very small and soft.

Some weeds fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and deliver it to the soil in their root zone after they die, adding natural fertilizer for your other plants. These include plants in the pea family like clovers and all legumes. If these aren’t overtaking your other plants, you might want to leave them.

After you have determined what weeds to remove, you need to decide how to remove them. Here is a summary of the most widely used methods, and my personal rating of their effectiveness and safety:

 

Weed-busting Methods

Robin’s Top Weed-busting Picks

Organic mulch – One of my top choices for effective weed prevention is organic mulches, especially wood chips. A thick layer of organic matter (anything that was previously alive, like leaves, stems, or flowers) is beneficial to your soil in many ways. It provides a thick layer of insulation which, over time, is broken down by soil microbes and worms into rich soil. A layer of mulch also:

• Keeps soil temperatures lower in summer
• Holds moisture and prevents soil moisture from evaporating
• Blocks light and prevents weed seeds from germinating
• Kills weed seeds by overheating them during decomposition of mulch
• Protects soil microbes from harsh climatic conditions

Use wood chips liberally around perennial plants, but avoid using where you want to plant annuals. Woodchips tie up nitrogen, which most annual plants need in abundance. Avoid dyed mulch and hay or straw bales with visible seed heads. Call or flag down an arborist in your neighborhood and have them drop off fresh wood chips to spread over your yard or pathways.

String Trimmers – I am also a fan of string trimmers, or “weed whackers” because they don’t disturb the soil. It is much faster to “whack” weeds than to hand pull, and it is especially effective when the weeds are still green. For the biggest bang for your time, you may need to repeat the process several times in a season when you first start to tackle your weeds this way. If you watch the weeds and trim as soon as you see flowers, you will eliminate seed production. After just a few years, you will reduce weed seeds so dramatically without disturbing the soil, you will mostly eliminate future weeds.

Stand-up or “Step-and-Twist” Weeders

Hand pulling weeds, especially when the soil is moist or the weeds are still green, is another effective way to reduce weeds. However, we all know how back-breaking that can be. Enter the stand-up method: a stand-up or step-and-twist weeder pulls weeds and their roots while you are standing. Fiskars makes a 4-Claw Stand-up Garden Weeder that pulls weeds out from an upright position. You push the tool into the ground with your foot, then pull to grab the weed and its roots from the ground. I haven’t used one myself, but I would like to test one (we don’t have enough weeds to justify the purchase, but I’m intrigued). While I have seen them work wonders in lawns, I’m not sure how well they work in our dry, compacted desert soils. These weeders may need moist soil to work effectively. I’ll be doing more research on them.

Hopefully you will find one of these methods right for your yard. If you are still overwhelmed, just take one small area at a time, weed that one area, and stand back and admire your progress. Don’t try to take on your whole yard at once. Just make your goal to finish the job before the weeds turn dry and tan. If you can achieve that goal, it will reduce your future weeding each year!