Weed mitigation inspired by Mr Agave
“A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.” [Wikipedia]
Winter rain does a lot of good, but in our mild climate it also causes an explosion of weeds. Many annual weeds grow insanely fast. Just a few days ago, I saw some grasses flowering at just a couple of inches in height. And flowers = seeds = more weeds.
Some people find weeding relaxing – I envy you, I really do. For me, it’s a chore that’s boring, time-consuming, and, especially around spiky and spiny plants, generally unpleasant. That’s why I try to make weed control as effortless as possible.
In early October, I applied Preen Extended Weed Control Preventer to the most weed-prone areas, carefully avoiding spots where I want wildflower seeds (like California poppies) to sprout. Judging from how bad things were in the past, Preen is definitely helping, but there are still weeds sprouting in paths and planter beds.
Weeds were on my mind already when I watched Mr Agave’s latest video on YouTube: “Agave Dry Garden Weed Prevention, Part 1”, or “How I’m attempting to stop the spread of weeds on my pathways throughout my dry garden.” Mr Agave is Luke Fladzinski, a fellow agave nut who lives in the Central Valley town of Tracy, about 80 miles south of here. His climate is virtually identical to mine, so his experiences are valuable learning moments for me. Pretty much all of Luke’s videos are about his own agaves.
In his weed prevention video, Luke talks at length about the weeds in his garden and reveals a very simple method to mitigate them: mechanically removing the newly sprouted weeds using a hoe. The way Luke describes it, he turns over the top one or two inches with a hoe to dislodge the seedlings, then rakes the soil back into place.
I love how low-tech this approach is, and I duplicated it in the front yard the other day. Using a hoe, I scraped up the top layer of soil, going deep enough to get the roots of the weeds. I only tried it in a few areas, but it took all of 10 minutes. Easy-peasy.
Luke admits that this is the first time he’s done this and that he’ll probably have to repeat it at least one more time to be reasonably successful. I’m sure he’s right, but it’s still better than ignoring the problem until the weeds are so tall that pulling them is difficult and resorting to Roundup (glyphosate) becomes tempting.
Some people advise against disturbing the top layer of soil because it might unearth buried weed seeds, making the problem worse. While that’s a possibility, I don’t think it’ll matter much because whatever buried seeds might sprout will be dealt with when I re-hoe.
Hoeing and raking works well on pathways and areas where there’s plenty of room between plants. Weeds growing between plants that are tightly packed together (the inevitable result of cramscaping) will still need to be pulled by hand or with a hand-held weeding tool.
I know that what I’m describing here isn’t exactly earth-shattering, but maybe you’re like me and need to be reminded of the basics. As they say: Keep it simple, stupid.
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| One of the areas I tackled |
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| Another area |
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| So many weeds already |
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| I don’t know what this type of hoe is called, but it’s what I used because it’s what I have |
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| California poppy seedlings are easy to recognize, but in this photo there are weeds, too (circled in yellow). These will need be pulled with a hand weeder. |
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| I believe these are Clarkia amoena seedlings, a California native, not weeds. I did spread some wildflower seeds before the first rain of the season, but I foolishly didn’t write down what went where – that would have helped me differentiate between desirable plants and weeds. Oh well, I’ll know soon enough. |
No rain equals no weeds! Aren't I lucky?!
ReplyDeleteHaha, your horrid lack of rain has its benefits. (That's gallows humor.)
DeleteI watched the beginning of his video when he posted, and thought nah that won't work. But you're right, if you just continue with this method you've got the new seedlings covered. This feels easier, and I prefer standing. I just had to hear it twice for the recommendation to sink in, typical! :)
ReplyDeleteSame here. I often need to hear a message a few times, especially one I'm quick to discount initially.
DeleteI am so glad you brought up the subject of hoes! Marty saw me crouched over dealing with weeds and said why not use this? And produced a long-handled CobraHead hoe from the garage I didn't know we had. Hoes seem so old school, but this one is a game changer with its slim head that fits around succulents. Nice to know even the experts use hoes!
ReplyDeleteCobraHead, I need to look at that. I didn't know they made a long-handled one.
Deletehttps://photos.app.goo.gl/ATJv5dbaBGbqyL4c9. The hoe in your picture is designed for mixing concrete or mortar. My prefered weapons are the triangular hoes with sharp edges and pointed. Scrape with the edges or whack larger weeds. Of course larger weeds such as privet trees require a chainsaw and stump grinder!
ReplyDeleteHaha, the hoe came from my late father-in-law. It works well for scraping.
DeleteThanks for sharing your weeding strategies. While we're dry as dust here at present, I'm still combating the weeds that went wild as a result of last year's rain. I've got some VERY deep rooted weeds so I the Preen may be especially helpful there.
ReplyDeletePreen won't help kill existing weeds, but it'll prevent new ones from coming up. That alone is worth it.
DeleteI was at a public garden in Sweden where I watched two workers hoeing weeds from the long gravel paths. I'm sure it took them days. Most of the public gardens and nurseries around here seem to use pre-emergent herbicide. I hand pulled last year. I am with you - I'd rather not weed at all and focus my attention on something more rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably end up with combination of pre-emergent, raking, and handpulling. Hopefully a quick and easy combination :-)
DeleteIt's unfortunate that seeds love to germinate in gravel. I go after weeds early in the season but kind of run out of steam once it gets hot. With a large property you have to be a little more philosophical: 'oh they are a good groundcover', 'they keep moisture in the soil', etc. The only ones I go after are the rhizomatous grasses and thistles. Left to their devices everything desirable would soon be swallowed.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree: If I had a large property, my definition of "weed" would become far more lax.
DeleteMaybe the soil type makes a difference. Weeds are generally easy to pull here because the soil is sandy/silty/loamy, not clay that is either hard as a rock or as gooey as nougat. Or maybe we don't get enough rain here to sprout a lot of weeds. Or maybe I'm okay weeding. It isn't that bad here overall. Gophers are worse. But, definitely, looking back at the basics of gardening every once in a while does help!!
ReplyDeleteOur native soil is clay, and it's impossible to pull weeds once they've gotten bigger. Ditto for the cracks in the sidewalk :-)
DeleteWe don't have gophers, and I'm very grateful for that.
The hula hoe is designed for cutting off small germinating weeds and maintaining gravel paths. It’s the best hoe for this problem because it cuts them off by pushing and pulling action. It’s easy.
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting me know about the hula hoe. I've never used one, but it looks perfect for what I'm trying to do!
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