There's No End in Sight by Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service
Experienced gardeners know that the war on weeds is waged continuously, and on multiple fronts. Only raw rookies believe that it's a battle that can actually be won.
Oh, sure, a determined soul can, occasionally, gain the upper hand (there's an ebb and flow to most battles). But weeds will always be part of gardening, and it's better to accept that fact than to strive for decisive victory.
Weeds are, above all, opportunists. They take advantage of soil and sunshine and nutrients and moisture wherever other plants haven't already claimed those resources.
Their seeds can travel for miles and wait patiently in the soil--crabgrass seeds remain viable for up to 60 years!--for a chance to germinate.
Since it's practically impossible to outlast them, gardeners have to outsmart them if weeding is not to become a discouraging burden. My own strategy for our seven-acre plot is four-pronged:
Prevention: Weeds like bare compacted soil. Sun or shade, it makes little difference, since there are plenty of varieties to take advantage of both.
Once the soil bed is prepared, I strive to eliminate the bare spots by covering every square inch with either plants or mulch. Weeds slip easily out of moist well-prepared soil, and a thick organic mulch keeps dormant seeds dormant.
Edges of beds, along pavement or grass, are favorite spots for seeds to lodge. Compacted by foot traffic and thinning mulch, these narrow strips are also the targets of leaf blowers and lawn mowers. Sidewalk debris is full of weed seeds.
Gardeners could cut weeding time in half by managing the perimeters of planting beds more carefully. Edging materials and stepping-stones help prevent compaction, while plants that grow right to the edge or even spill over hide exposed earth. A thick mulch along the edges, replenished regularly (even if the rest of the bed is OK), helps prevent lodged seeds from germinating.
When weed seeds meet soil--a thimbleful is enough in some cases--roots deploy tactics to quickly take advantage of lean growing conditions. Thistle and dandelion, for instance, send thick fleshy taproots deep into the soil. Shallow chickweed roots spread way out, probing for moisture. Tenacious roots systems make weeds growing on these compacted surfaces and in crevices extremely hard to puler to prevent them than to get rid of them once they're established.
I also try to make sure I don't "import" potential weed problems by thoroughly checking the rootballs and containers of nursery stock I've just purchased.
Get 'em when they're small: A gardener's weed woes escalate exponentially when weeds are allowed to go to seed. Annual weeds, like Pennsylvania smartweed and purslane, are masters at seed production, making thousands of viable seeds and dispersing them with abandon.
The sneakiest of all are winter weeds like cress and garlic mustard. Their seeds germinate in fall or winter, for an early jump on spring. Plants mature quickly; already setting seed by the time other weeds have barely sprouted.
I spend as much time as possible weeding in spring when seedlings are small and slip out of the moist soil easily. I know that a few minutes of weeding at that time of year will save hours of weeding later in the summer and perhaps years of weeding in the future.
For those I've missed, I try, at minimum, to chop off their blooms before they go to seed.
Spray smart: We don't use many pesticides here, but we realized early on that we couldn't manage seven acres without help. Glyphosate (Roundup) is a regular companion, used to spot-treat weeds in paved surfaces and throughout the garden.
We chose Roundup for several reasons: It's one of the least toxic herbicides that can tackle this heavy-duty job; it's systemic, so it kills weeds roots-and-all; and it's soil inactive. Once absorbed by the foliage, it won't run off or spread through the soil to harm other plants.
Roundup is practically essential when starting new beds. An initial application clears existing vegetation. Repeat applications, usually following soil preparation, get the stubborn roots of thistle and bindweed, as well as the healthy crop of seedlings that germinate from decades' worth of seeds built up in the soil. Once the last spray is applied, we disturb the soil as little as possible during planting. Our strategy there is to let sleeping seeds lie.
Live and let live: When all is said and done, weeds have some value to gardeners like me, who are trying to build and manage a large, sloped plot. They provide food for birds and butterflies in the form of seeds and nectar. Bees and other beneficial insects congregate on their tiny blossoms.
But most of all, they cover the ground. Sturdy roots cling tightly to the poor soil on our steep terrain, preventing erosion and crowding out other weed species--possibly worse ones. If I remove them, in a futile attempt to "tidy up," I inherit their job. Or, I must immediately prepare and plant that bare ground. All in due course.
(Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
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