Tackle unwanted plants early to cut down on weeding time later
Field bindweed, or just bindweed for short, is pretty enough, but it's a notorious thug in the garden, even choking other plants if it gets a chance. Debbie Arrington
This is another in our “Food in My Back Yard” series, dedicated to edible gardening.
What’s the hardest part about gardening? Any experienced gardener will answer immediately (and emphatically): Weeds!
More time is spent weeding – the ongoing chore of weed removal – than planning or planting. Weeding makes up a big part of gardening activity. A lot of time (and angst) can be saved by keeping weeds (at least semi) under control.
By tackling weeds from the outset, your garden experience will be much more rewarding (and relaxing).
What is a weed? It’s an “unwanted plant,” something growing in the wrong place and competing with the things you’re actually trying to grow.
But certain attributes elevate a misplaced seedling into a bad weed. The plants we tend to think of as bad weeds are survivors; they can take summer heat as well as winter cold. They grow extremely rapidly and often from multiple ways (seed, corns or little segments of rhizome; we’re looking at you, nutsedge). When given the opportunity, they can take over a garden.
Unusually thuggish in their aggressive growing habits, weeds deny their neighbors sun, water and nutrients. For gardeners, they are a pain – mentally and physically – as we battle their invasion.
According to the Weed Science Society of America, only 3% of the world’s 250,000-plus plant species behave like weeds – but that’s enough. The toughest weeds (and those that endanger the environment and economy) are classified as “noxious.”
Our most common weeds are not California native wildflowers but imported plants brought here from somewhere else. Often, they arrived as ornamentals that escaped urban landscaping and invaded wildlands and farmland alike. (Highway iceplant, Bermudagrass and pampas grass are well-known examples.)
Just about any plant that produces an abundance of seed can become a weed. For example, a single yellow starthistle can produce 75,000 seeds. Weeds often have deep roots (and drought resistance). Field bindweed, among the worst of the worst, can send roots 20 feet down and 10 feet in each direction – in a single season. (No surprise, starthistle and bindweed are both considered noxious.)
How can you get the upper hand on weeds? Constant vigilance; grab ’em while they’re small.
As soon as weeds appear (and they will), pull them. That’s easiest now when they’re just beginning their spring growth. If they’ve grown more than a few inches tall, whack them with a hoe. Aim the blade so it hits about an inch below the soil line; that cuts the weed off below the crown so it’s less likely to resprout.
Unless your garden started with all sterile potting mix and is fully contained, more weed seed is waiting in the soil to replace that removed plant. The less you turn the soil, the fewer weed seeds make it to the surface where they can sprout.
To keep weeds down (and seed buried), use mulch. A 3-inch layer of organic mulch (leaves, ground bark, straw, etc.) or compost will smother most baby weed plants. Mulch also helps maintain soil moisture and keeps plant roots comfortable during summer heat.
Fighting weeds takes diligence – especially when they seem to be growing before your eyes. Remember: To stop their cycle, don’t let them go to seed. If you see flowers on those unwanted plants, they’ve got to go now! Otherwise, you’re multiplying your future work.
The University of California’s integrated pest management program has excellent resources on weed identification and control including a detailed weed gallery. Find it at https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/weeds_intro.html.
One more thing: Don’t plant a future weed. Avoid introducing invasive plants to your landscape. Learn more about invasive plants at https://www.cal-ipc.org/.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.