One important wildscaping tenet is the idea that you should adopt natural methods of weed control, pest control and fertilizing your plants. There are chemical ways to go about these things, of course, but they often have negative consequences for other plants, beneficial insects and for the environment as a whole.
With weeding, it basically comes down to removing undesirable plants before they go to seed. And removing means removing them entirely — ensuring you get every little bit of root, lest it rise again to annoy you another day. It’s a pain, but also immensely satisfying. I’ve found weeding to be especially satisfying with a few specialized tools. (Some of these may be affiliate links.)
The Flame Weeder
What could be more satisfying than torching pesky weeds? They key here is that you need to do the torching when the weeds are small — just emerging. Note that I haven’t tried any of these, specifically, but I have something similar.
The Lever for Stubborn Weeds
I honestly don’t know what this is typically called, but the idea is that you put the “gripper” over the bottom of the plant’s stem, then use your foot to engage the gripper and use leverage to yank the weed right out of the ground.
A few years ago, I carried on a serious campaign against an infestation of tough thistle plants, and I found this tool invaluable. I could never have gotten them uprooted without its help. Not only does it enable you to take out very well-rooted plants, but you don’t actually have to touch them with your hands at all — which is especially handy with stinging plants like the thistle.
I have the Fiskars brand, but it looks like there are similar well-reviewed items on the market.
Soil Solarization
If I’m ever going to rid my backyard of Bermuda Grass, I’m going to have to dig more fully into this technique. The idea is that you cover pesky weeds/invasives and and use the sun’s heat to kill the plants and destroy the seeds hiding in the soil, as well.
I’ve heard of covering your soil with anything from cardboard to black plastic to transparent plastic. The idea of using plastic sort of gives me the willies, but it’s what’s endorsed by Texas Agrilife Extension here. Since cardboard is cardboard and plastic is plastic, I’m going to link instead to some helpful resources on the topic.
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