Weeds are the unwanted plants in your garden that compete with your main crop for space, water, sunlight and nutrients. Weeds are also carrier of plant diseases and can spread easily if they are not dealt with. The definition of weeds can sometimes by confusing to the beginning gardener.
A corn is a productive plant and is considered as an important crop by many countries. However, a single or several corn plants that are growing within a field of sunflowers is/are considered as a weed because they are not the main crop and therefore they are competing with the sunflowers for nutrients.
For avid or neophyte gardeners, weeding a garden is considered as the most demanding task. All gardens develop weeds from time to time because weeds are resilient and persistent. And because it is an unpleasant task, gardeners often put off weeding until the weeds are already out of control. However, making your garden weed free is possible just as long as you follow these tips:
Prevention. There is an old cliché that states that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Probably the best defence that your garden has on weeds is to prevent them from growing. Once a weed is left to grow in a garden it can produce many seeds that can spread at a significant rate. Ignoring even just a single weed is a mistake since that single weed can multiply quickly until the garden is already overrun by weeds. Preventing weeds to germinate will enable your crops to grow and develop to its optimum productive height. There are several ways of preventing weeds from germinating which includes the following:
Mulching. Mulching is a gardening technique which involves the covering of the soil around the main plant or crop with organic materials such as dried rice straws or grasses in order to protect it from the germination of weeds. Mulching is also used to prevent erosion, to enrich the soil and to retain the moisture content.
Mulching prevents the germination of weeds because it prevents sunlight to shine directly on the weed seeds that lay dormant in the ground. When mulching, make sure that your main crops are tall enough in such a way that their leaves are higher than the mulching materials. This will make sure that the leaves of your crops will get the sunlight that they need. Another reminder when using mulch is to use dry straws or grass stalks without the pinnacles where grass seeds are located.
Use of Covering Materials. Covering the soil surrounding your plants with dark materials such as black plastic sheeting, black garbage bags or weed mats will also prevent the occurrence of weeds because it uses the same principles of that of mulching. However, covering materials do not enrich the soil with nutrients unlike in mulching with organic materials.
Close Spacing. Another way of preventing weed from germinating is to place crops or plants as close together as possible without letting them compete with space. When plants grow up close to each other, their leaves form a canopy that will block sunlight from reaching the soil and germinating the weed seeds that are lying about.
Weed Removal. If you were not able to prevent the germination of the weeds, then the next best thing to do is to remove the weeds that have already grown. It may be an unpleasant task but the only way to protect your garden is to remove the weeds upon sight.
The most common way to remove weeds is by hand weeding. This is a most effective technique especially when the weeds are still small and their roots have not had the chance to root too deeply. When you plan to weed manually, make sure that the soil is a moist so that it is easier to loosen the weeds' roots.
When the weeds are a little larger, their roots may have root deep enough that simply pulling them out by hand is no longer an option. To remove these slightly larger and deeper weeds, use weeding tools like hand trowels and forked weeders. Make sure that you remove the entire weed including the roots. Merely cutting the top is not enough since the roots may still spread and grow new weeds.
