Weeds are notorious invaders that annex your garden and hinder your plants’ growth. They strongly grow and widely spread in summer stealing your plants’ nutrients and water. They are unwanted and undesired and they need to be removed. However, not all ways to remove weeds are safe. Some ways will contaminate your garden. Therefore, in this article, we will provide with the best ways to remove weeds from your garden without contaminating it.
1. Pull the weeds out
Although this old-fashioned way is not the easiest way to remove weeds from your garden, yet it is definitely the best way. Besides being efficient, it is the safest way to remove weeds close to your plants. To make this way easier, you should pull the weeds out after watering. When the soil is moist, you have a better chance to pull out the roots of weeds, thus, you get rid of the entire plant.
2. Forced darkness
Just like any other plant in your garden, weeds need a proper sunlight exposure to live and grow. Mulching will deprive them of access to sunlight, thus it will prevent new weeds from growing and it will kill already grown weeds. Besides, mulching helps to keep your garden soil moist, thus, it contributes to the growth of your desired plants.
Newspapers, wood chips, and bark chips are good mulching materials to forced weeds into darkness. Cover the weeds with one layer of newspapers then add one layer of wood chips or bark chips. This will be enough to block the weeds from accessing the sunlight, hence, they will suffocate and start to break down and they will eventually die.
3. Use a homemade weed killer
Herbicides are known to be the best weeds killers. However, chemical herbicides will not only kill your plants if they get on them but they will also contaminate your garden. Therefore, it is better to make your own homemade herbicides. It is an easy task. You will need a spray bottle, 2 cups of white vinegar, 1/2 cup of salt and a bit of dish soap. Blend them well and pour them in the spray bottle.
You could also use herbicide glyphosates. They are recommended for their effectiveness. Either way, be careful when using herbicides to get rid of weeds as they may kill your desirable plants too.
4. Boiling water
This is one of the most effective ways to remove small young weeds. This method is recommended to use on weeds that are relatively far from your favorite plants. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water, boil it, and then pour it on the weeds. Watch out for your feet and hands. You should avoid using this method on your garden beds. It is recommended for weeds growing on your patio, yard or sidewalks.
5. Salting
Salting is an efficient way to kill weeds. The salting technique should not be used for gardens. In fact, it should be used for areas where you don’t want anything to grow at all. Rock salt is the best to use, however, any other kind of salt will do. Dissolve the salt in hot water then pour it on the area where you don’t want anything to grow ever again.
You should keep in mind that using this method to kill weeds in your garden will not only kill your plants but it will also damage the quality of your soil. Use it only in areas where you don’t plan to grow anything.
6. Burn the weeds
This is a very popular way of killing weeds. You will need a weed scorcher to burn the weeds in your garden. If you don’t have one, you can buy one for your local garden store, it is not expensive. Burning the weed is the safest method to remove them from your garden as it keeps your other desirable plants safe.
Burning the weeds does not mean setting them on fire. You should not set them on fire, it is extremely dangerous especially when the grass is dry. All you should do is to run the flame of fire over them, this will be enough to dry them out from their internal moisture which will lead to their death in a few days.
7. Cover them
This method is similar to the forced darkness method only it is more decorative. If you are looking for an ornamental method that will kill the weeds and adorn your garden, then this method is an ideal choice. Buy ground covering plants for shade from your local nursery store. Ground covering plants are deadly to weeds because they deprive them of accessing sunlight, nutrients, and water. You could find the best ground covers to use for your garden in this article.
8. Use Vegetable oil
Some vegetable oils such as sunflower and canola oil are biodegradable and they contain herbicide and pesticide which will kill the weeds without damaging your garden soil and your plants. Trickle the oil into the weeds, they will absorb it and die.
Essential oils such as clove, summer savory, and cinnamon are also an excellent choice for removing the weeds from your garden. They are cheap and they are extremely effective.
9. Raise goats or chickens
Goats are extremely useful for removing weeds. They tend to eat weeds when they are grazing. In fact, weeds are goats’ favorite meal. Chickens too are one of the best weeds fighters. They will pick off newly grown weeds and prey on their seeds. They will also guzzle the seeds of mature weeds.
10. Dig them up
This is a hard way to remove weeds from your garden. This way is recommended only when the weeds keep regrowing because this means that you have a persistent root that should be dug out. Use a sharp blade tool such as a garden knife to dig and extract the roots out.
These are the most effective ways to remove weeds from your garden. By using one of these ways, you will kill weeds and protect your garden from any chemical contamination. These ways of removing weeds are for gardens, it is not right to apply them to your patio or sidewalk. If you wish to remove weeds from your patio, take a look at this review. It will provide you with all the required tips and information to remove weeds from your patio for good.
We wish you success in removing weeds from your garden, and if you ever needed more tips or advice, feel free to contact us.