Hannah shares her simple, stress-free methods to keep various weeds under control in a productive garden. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
If you don’t manage weeds in the vegie patch, they will compete with your produce, stealing nutrients and smothering seedlings. They could even escape to other parts of the garden or bushland. There are a few simple things you can do to keep them under control and give you the confidence to tackle any that slip through the cracks!
There are many species of weeds with many different growth types. The key to managing all of them is to get in early, before the roots are established and before they set seed and spread!
Perennial weeds:
Weeds like Wild Sorrel and Twitch Grass live and reproduce over many years. These two species also spread via rhizomes, so you need to dig deep and carefully to remove all parts of the plant. Anything left behind can turn into a new plant!
Some perennial weeds have very long, strong tap roots, like wild fennel and dock. Try levering these out with a garden fork.
Annual weeds:
Annual weeds like Milk Thistle and Chickweed are often small and go through their life cycle very quickly – but if left to flower, they can produce thousands of seeds per plant and thus never-ending generations of plants. Mulch beds well in the warmer months to smother these weeds and stirrup hoes are useful for those that pop up between rows of vegies.
Silage tarps:
When Hannah prepares new beds, she smothers the soil to kill off both perennial and annual weeds. First, she cuts finished vegies such as broad beans, off at the base rather than pulling them out roots and all. This is to reduce soil disturbance, which weeds love! Next, the soil gets a good feed with compost and a deep soak, before being covered with a silage tarp. This method encourages weeds to germinate but then die off as there is no sunlight. It also activates the soil biology and heats up the weeds which breaks down the weed waste.
Hannah leaves silage tarps on a bed for 6 weeks in warm months and up to 3 months over winter.
Weeding will always be a part of gardening so the best thing to do is match the right tools and tricks to the plant and get in early. It can also be quite therapeutic!
Featured Plants (all weeds):
WILD SORREL – Rumex acetosella
TWITCH GRASS – Elymus repens
MILK THISTLE – Sonchus oleraceus
CHICKWEED – Stellaria media
WILD FENNEL – Foeniculum vulgare
DOCK – Rumex crispus
Filmed on Muwinina Country & Hobart, Tas
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10 Comments
Hey Hanna! What a great inspiration for keeping the weed pressure down! When I saw the huge tap root on one of your weeds, I thought of comfrey. Can you make a tea from weeds and put all that fertility drawn through those tap roots back into the garden. Wen I think of weeds, I always think of the saying…One year of seeding, seven years of weeding…so get rid of them in their youth. Cheers!
It is very satisfying when you get that whole taproot!
What a great garden, full & lush.
It always puts a smile on my face, when I see Hannah looking so happy, beautiful & hands covered in dirt, a genuine inspiration 👍🌺
Loving Hannah’s segments, I’m learning a lot
I love you property, so authentic. Your plants look luscious. Hanna, you are da woman.
Hot tip I mulch before I cover with plastic.
You mention wild fennel, chickweed i dunno allot of these “weeds “as you call em are edible maybe the weed i see in Brisbane is different to what you see in Tasmania., perhaps you need to do a multi-states weed presentation its not really relevant to Qld is it this video. Great tip about the tarp.
I actually like sheep sorrel as a cover crop of sorts. It grows very enthusiastically here, I just pull bunches out and use it as a mulch in place, and then use other mulch over the top of it if I want things to look tidier. It's a useful plant for me – a free cover crop that grows well without me planting it – so I lean into that. I just "harvested" a whole lot of it yesterday, actually. Milk thistle is mulch and compost/weed tea fodder. Cats ear for the compost. Plantain gets a free pass because I adore the striking tall flowers. Couch grass though… worst stuff, serves no purpose other than to smother and be annoying. I do remove any large runners that I find in order to keep it in check somewhat, but don't tie myself up in knots trying to get every last piece. I try to be as zen about it as I can, because realistically I can never be rid of the couch, and it's not worth the stress of trying to eliminate it completely – it will return, it's just a matter of when. I find comfort in knowing that if it gets away from me at some stage, I can always sheet/deep mulch as a bit of a "reset".
Does anyone know where I can purchase a Stirrup hoe like Hannah's?
Good hints. The stirrup hoe is the best garden tool since the spade and fork came in use. You can clear weeded gardewn plots in minutes.