Weeding
With the arrival of Summer, your banks start being invaded by unwelcome weeds. Not only are they an ugly sight, they also compete with your plants for light, water and organic matter. If you haven't chosen the mulching solution, these weeds will quickly become intrusive.
Here is some advice for an efficient weeding:
- Weed as soon as these plants appear, as they develop very quickly. It is therfore important to eliminate them before they reproduce and spread their seeds.
- It is more effective to weed manually rather than with chemical products. As well as costing less, it avoids soil pollution. Chemical weeding is not easy to carry out and is rarely selective, and it requires a good knowledge of the plants you want to get rid of. Wrong use of these products may be fatal for your plants.
- Don't leave bits of roots on your soil. A small piece of thistle or bindweed root left on the soil may start growing again. If you use a motorized cultivator on ground where these types of plants develop, you willl be invaded by them!
Weeding banks and the vegetable patch
- Hoe your soil regularly to break the crust which forms on the surface. This keeps the soil aired and easy to clean.
- By hoeing on a sunny morning, the small weeds left on the soil will dry in the sun.
- Many weeds have a root system which develop deep in the ground. They are easier to uproot if the soil is aired. Start by digging your finger into the ground under the neck of the weed and then uplift all the roots.
- After having prepared your ground for sowing, start by watering - this will lift out the seeds of the weeds. Simply remove them afterwards with a rake.
Weeding a lawn
- If a weed has invaded your lawn you will need a weeding knife to uporoot the plant and its root system. As the soil is dense, tools are necessary.
- It is easier to uproot weeds after watering...
An effective trick
- Use the hot water from your boiled potatoes as a general weedkiller. You can also use it as a spray.