October/November 2023
This column is a regular newsletter feature offering chapter members and local experts a chance to share information on many things related to gardening with native plants. The month’s request was:

After the tremendous crop of weeds from last season’s rains, what tricks and techniques do you recommend for efficient weed removal in your native garden?

Lynn Hillman-“Water deeply on day one and pull on day two. To keep from being discouraged, plan on only one hour at a time then go plant something wonderful.”

Jeanie Anderson-“Greetings from San Diego! I have been using vinegar (strong) and salt to kill weeds. It’s applied by spray on a sunny day. Another technique is to pull them after rain/watering, so the roots come out. Also, I have a terrible bind weed problem ever since I applied straw, which must have had seeds in the bales. I can’t seem to get them under control and look forward to more solutions!”

Amy Litton-“This one’s not too complicated – the best tool in my arsenal is persistence. I cruise through the yard periodically, from different angles, looking for weeds that are obscured or hidden outright & remove them promptly. I will always have some weeds because of what I miss and my neighbors, but just a few minutes a few times a week can keep eruptions to a minimum.”

Nancy Harris-“My experience with weeds other than wetting the ground thoroughly and pulling or digging them out is to surround newly planted species with wet overlapping newspaper and apply mulch on top. Also, planting a groundcover that spreads tightly (strawberry, aster chilensis, etc.) on any open area will keep most weeds away. This can create a tapestry effect. Takes some time to fill in, so use newspaper generously.”

Chris Reed-“I regularly garden with a weed tool in one hand and a spray bottle of Glyphosate in the other, choosing a windless day to avoid overspray. The toxicity of Roundup is highly exaggerated. In my garden, bees, bacteria, bugs, and butterflies abound. Bluebirds nest there every year. The trick with weeds is to be sufficiently disciplined to git ’em before they flower.”

Leon Baginski-”Weed removal? There is no easy way unless you use a bunch of mulch all around your plants but if you don’t use a ton of mulch then hand picking is the only solution.” 

Terry LePage-“I am not much troubled with weeds since my garden is small and I planted densely and allowed native volunteers to fill the spaces so not much bare ground. Plus, I find a little weed pulling (along with much more trimming and pruning because of the dense planting) to be therapeutic.”

Barbara Eisenstein-“Timing is everything when it comes to weeds. In the nearby nature park, we are now pulling perennial seedlings before they get big and go to flower or seed. One of the worst weeds in home gardens and open space is Bermuda grass. Over the years I have pulled and removed as much stem and roots as possible. I always dispose of pulled Bermuda in the green waste because every little bit has the potential to regrow. A thick layer of wood chip mulch helps with Bermuda, making it easier to pull out long stems. However, with Bermuda, follow-up is critical. Each blade that reaches the sun feeds the underground roots, which can grow many feet down. But over time I have beat this beast back!”

Jackie Brodsky-“I cautiously spray 30 percent vinegar directly on the weed.  Small weeds close to a plant, I pull.”

Dan Songster-“Start early and keep at it (as long as the ground is not too wet). For shallow rooted weeds, I use a hand hoe –sometimes referred to as a Japanese Weeding Sickle. It cuts weeds off just below ground surface. For deeper rooted weeds either a hand pick or conventional weeder. For super weeds that have those rhizomes, bulb like structures or other root systems that are impossible to remove by hand, (such as nutgrass, field bindweed, Bermuda buttercup, etc.), I use a chemical control spot spray (yes, Glyphosate) so that roots can be killed. I have tried organic weed sprays such as Orange oil or vinegar and found them to be ineffective on those superweeds mentioned. Still they do work to top kill simple annual weeds if used when the weeds are young. Note: Some of these organics can be very caustic to the sprayer and very expensive when used on anything larger than a small pathway or flower bed edge.”

Our question for the next newsletter: “With winter here, Manzanita blooms can’t be far away. Which is your favorite Arctostaphylos for your garden, and why?”

Email your responses to Dan Songster at songster@cox.net. Please attempt to keep replies brief so we can include most of the responses.