Heed the weeds, but don’t feed them 

If you garden, you will have weeds. Spending the right amount of time weeding — in the right places — and around the most important crops will increase your harvest and reduce the amount of watering you need to do.

Let’s explore water-saving and weed-reducing techniques. Whether you use drip irrigation or hand-watering, water only your plants. If you water the space between the plants, weeds will grow there. If that space remains dry, fewer weeds will grow and they will grow less vigorously. 

Mulch the space between your plants and your pathways to reduce bare soil where weeds can sprout. Before mulching, cut the weed tops off with a scuffle hoe — also known as a hula hoe or stirrup hoe. 

Plant your vegetables close together — in beds, not rows. Potatoes, lettuce, beets, and corn are almost self-weeding when the foliage is dense enough to choke out the weeds. I plant tomatoes three feet apart and lettuce between the tomatoes. The lettuce is ready to harvest before the tomatoes are.

Put a border around your garden that goes down into the ground; six inches is good, 12 is better. Many weeds spread underground. Stopping those sideways-running roots will greatly reduce the weeds in your garden. I use old fence boards or, better yet, metal (with a cap of wood to prevent cuts to you or the grandkids). 

I have used the stiff plastic walls of an old, long, leaking kiddie pool as a side barrier, too. It is still there, and not breaking down. Be creative — but be aware that some things will break down, and the wrong kind of plastic is hard to remove from the ground. Do not use 300-year-old cedar 2x12s. They have been mined from old-growth forests and will last only 10 years. 

Don’t make permanent pathways in your garden. You will get better productive use of your soil if you plant next year in this year’s (leaf-covered) pathways.

Hand pull (with thin gardening gloves on) some weeds while they are small, others after they have a stem to pull on. As you gain experience, you’ll learn the best time to get each type of weed. Or just rough up the ground with a trowel or scuffle hoe a couple of times as the weeds sprout. 

You can leave many pulled weeds on the soil to turn into mulch if they have not gone to seed. The exceptions are rhizome-spreading grasses (the ones with long white roots running to another grass blade three feet away) and bindweed — often mistakenly called “Morning Glory.” Those weeds I dry on the driveway until they are crunchy and brittle, a week or two. Lay them on the garden soil when they are freshly picked, and they will sprout again and need to be pulled again.

When we make corn or boil potatoes, I pour the boiling water on my least favorite weeds. I know people who spray diluted vinegar on weeds. I will try it this summer and get back to you. Don’t get it on the plants you like, the boiling water either.

Some plants, like squash and lettuce, are almost weeds. Others, like carrots and onions, get overwhelmed easily. Focus your efforts on the plants that are most affected by the weeds. 

Never use herbicides. Anything that can chemically kill a weed will demolish your vegetables — and maybe your neighbors’ too. I have seen many cases where herbicide drift from another yard, or even a different part of yours, has damaged food crops. Grapes are particularly susceptible.