Weeding All Around the Farm
Now that so many of us are spending more time at home this summer, we can tackle all those pesky garden weeds.
Weeds in the garden are inevitable - left alone, so many of them quickly overtake healthy flowers, plants, and vegetables, stealing their sunlight, water, and soil nutrients. Here at my Bedford, New York farm, the weeds are quite rampant this year, and we're all trying hard to keep up with their rapid growth. This week, my outdoor grounds crew spent every day weeding. It's a tedious job, but a necessary one to keep the gardens looking their best.
Enjoy these photos. And please read a wonderful New York Times article on weeds written by my friend and former Editorial Director at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Margaret Roach. It is interesting and very informative - just click on the highlighted link. Also go to her web site, AWaytoGarden.com for more information.
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- We work very hard to keep my gardens looking well-manicured. This is my long and winding pergola garden. I don’t use any chemicals in my gardens, so I do tend to get a lot of weeds during this time – it just takes patience and elbow grease to get them all out.
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- My vegetable garden also requires a lot of weeding during the summer. The weeds grow extremely fast. This garden was just weeded this week.
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- Here, you can see some of the weeds growing in the lawn. Weeds may be annuals, biennials, or perennials. Annual weeds are the easiest to control. They complete their life cycles in a year or less. Biennial weeds form roots and a rosette of leaves the first year and set seed the second. Perennial weeds live for more than two years.
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- Weeds grow wherever they can. Here, the crew is tackling the weeds under my allee of lindens. It’s actually good to weed during and after it rains, when the roots can be removed from the soil easily. Several of my Martha Stewart Multi-Purpose Heavy-Duty Garden Tote Bags from my shop on Amazon are being used to collect all the pulled weeds. We use these bags all over the farm.
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- The crew removes all the weeds by hand. Many bags of weeds are discarded every day.
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- Pasang is careful to weed around the non-weed specimens. Here, one can see where he has weeded and the area that still needs lots of work.
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- There are many types of tools that help with weeding. I prefer the short hand-tools best, so as not to disturb any of the neighboring non-weed specimens.
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- This is a long-handled garden weed hoe. Garden hoes are ideal for chopping, weeding, and clearing garden growth. This one has a six-inch-wide blade for optimal weeding.
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- These hoes basically work by dragging them back and forth over the ground.
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- Some of the weeds we are pulling include docks. Docks are perennial plants growing from taproots. Docks were popular wild edibles during the Great Depression because of their tart, lemony flavor, and free, widespread abundance.
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- Chickweed is an annual weed that prefers shady, moist soil, although its seeds will sprout in dry soil. The easiest way to control chickweed is to pull individual plants.
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- Garlic mustard is fast spreading and can grow in most soil types. It can also grow in full sun or full shade. Try to pull these weeds during flowering, before the plants produce seed. And, pull at the base of the plant to remove the entire root.
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- White or Dutch clover can be persistent, widely adapted producers with leaves that grow in sets of three leaflets. Each leaflet is tear-shaped and many have a stripe across it. White clover grows in a creeping manner and will develop roots wherever a stem node touches the ground.
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- While it can grow in many different places, it is typically found in lawns, competing with grass.
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- Dandelion, which features a deep, fleshy taproot, is common and very recognizable. Leaves branching from the taproot form into rosettes and can remain green throughout the year. The leaf margins are deeply lobed and pointing backward toward the base.
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- Smartweed, Polygonum, is an annual broadleaf. This wild grain is an important food source for wildlife, but it becomes a noxious weed when it gets into garden plots and lawns.
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- Galinsoga is a self-sowing herbaceous annual. Plants are low growing and may get from five to 30-inches in height if not pulled.
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- Crabgrass gets its name from the leaves, which form a tight, crab-like circle. It can become a problem quickly during the summer because it is able to grow vigorously in hot, dry conditions. Discourage crabgrass by mowing at the proper height for the grass type.
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- Another grassy weed is orchardgrass, Dactylis glomerata. Orchardgrass is a common perennial weed. It is a forage crop that loves to creep up on landscapes. It’s mostly found in the northeastern United States and loves cooler weather, especially during the spring and fall seasons.
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- Oxalis can be hard to tame because it grows year-round. Also called sour grass, it is a vigorous weed, and a summer annual – sometimes perennial – that thrives in fertile, warm, and moist soils in the shade. The leaflets are made up of three heart-shaped leaves, folded through the middle.
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- Another weed that is easy to pull, but tough to keep out of the garden is common purslane, Portulaca oleracea. Purslane is a succulent plant that will grow outward in a circle shape close to the ground. The fleshy red stems will have small green paddle-shaped fleshy leaves. Purslane flowers are star-shaped and yellow in appearance. Purslane can be found in clear uncultivated or recently cultivated soil.
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- Spotted spurge, known botanically as Chamaesyce maculata, is a dark green plant with red stems that grows low to the ground in a mat-like fashion. It grows outwards from the center in a rough wagon wheel shape and its leaves are oval-shaped. The flowers on the plant will be small and pink. Because of the spotted spurge weed’s mat-like nature, hand pulling is a good option for removing it from the lawn or flower beds, but be sure to wear gloves due to the irritating sap.
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- This is Glechoma hederacea or creeping Charlie. Creeping Charlie is often called ground ivy. It is a green vine whose leaves are round with scalloped edges. It grows close to the ground and will form a mat-like ground cover. What makes it most frustrating to keep out of the garden is that every rooted node can turn into a new plant if left behind.
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- Acalypha is a plant in the family Euphorbiaceae and is commonly known as hophornbeam copperleaf, hornbeam copperleaf, or pineland threeseed mercury. It is found in meadows, fields, woodlands, and shores of rivers or lakes. Although it is considered a weed, it isn’t invasive and is considered a native plant.
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- Getting the entire plant, including as much of the root system as possible, is critical. Many weeds will resprout from dormant buds in any large pieces that remain in the soil.
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- It takes time and patience to keep up with weeds in any garden, but I am sure you will agree, it is all well worth the effort. Keep up with all the weeding!
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