Controlling the Weeds in Your Garden

The first three years as an amateur gardener were spent with a serious lack of knowledge about the methods and techniques of gardening. I would sometimes put in almost five hours a day in the garden and the results would be less than satisfactory. Today, after six years of gardening, I have learned enough to put in a minimal hour or two and see results better than any of my friends and neighbors around me. My garden has the right balance of flowers, fruits and herbs. I have even started to venture into organic gardening and I love it. I have gained the necessary knowledge about gardening methods, soil care and more importantly gardening tools. The best part of my garden is that it is completely weed free and I do not use chemical weed removers or herbicides. I still see others who are hooked to chemical weed killers which in the long run can wreak havoc with the quality of the soil.

Control

There are two ways to control the growth of garden weeds. The first is before they emerge from the ground, also known as pre-emergence and the other is after they emerge from the ground, known as post emergence. Let us focus on post emergence weed control here as that is the most common problem around the world. There are several extremely common tools which can completely free your garden of weeds without putting too much strain on your back.

• Weed Pullers: This is one of the most basic designs that have ever been invented. They have a long handle that have sharp prongs. It is operated with a foot pedal or hand crank. The weed needs to be gripped with the hand and yanked right out of the ground. There are various models in the weed puller and you might just need to try a few models before you find one that suits you. I recommend the WOLF-Garten Push-Pull Weeder, which allows gardener’s to quickly change tools in one-click, eliminating the need for having a garage full of unsightly, and space consuming long-handled tools. The other tools that work in effective weed control are Long-handled Hoes and Flame Weeders.
• Organic weed control: The overuse of chemicals has brought the focus on environmentally friendly weed control. Adding a layer of mulch, using the above mentioned tools and using natural herbicides are some of the methods of organic weed control.