Weeding and Gardening
Hey folks, Kevin here.
We’re standing at the edge of one of the older perennial beds here at the Sanctuary — the one that got away from us during the workshop collapse and rebuild. Wood chips still hold most of the surface, but the edges have started pushing chickweed and a few quackgrass runners back in. That’s the reality in Oswego County, zone 5: a hard year or two of limited time and the seed bank remembers.
Weeds compete for water and nutrients, sure. They also hide pests and can carry disease. And there’s a truth about weeding that doesn’t get said often enough: it’s one of those chores where falling behind compounds fast. A week of neglect doesn’t cost you a week of work to catch up — weeds that go to seed multiply the job for years afterward. An unexpected setback can turn a manageable bed into an overwhelming one seemingly overnight. This is how we get back on top without chemicals, and how we set the place up so it doesn’t keep happening as often.
If You’ve Fallen Behind: How to Reclaim an Overgrown Bed
If weeds have genuinely taken over, don’t start hand-pulling from one end and working your way through. On a truly overgrown area that approach takes so long the weeds you haven’t reached yet finish going to seed before you get there. A more realistic sequence:
1. Cut everything down first — mower, string trimmer, or brush cutter. It’s fast, far less demanding than pulling, and it removes seed heads before more seed hits the ground.
2. Smother rather than dig, at least for the worst patches. A silage tarp laid over a cut-down bed for several weeks to a full season does the killing work for you. No bending, no pulling — just lay it down and weight the edges. For a bed you want to plant sooner, sheet-mulch with cardboard and a thick layer of wood chips or leaves; you can plant right on top.
3. Triage. Deal first with whichever patch is closest to seeding or spreading into a bed you actually need this season. Accept that the rest can happen in stages over a full season or even a couple of seasons. A garden that got away from you over a hard year isn’t going to be fixed in a weekend, and it doesn’t need to be.
4. Lean harder on the lowest-labor methods going forward rather than committing to a routine that assumes you’ll have the same time and stamina every single week. The point isn’t heroic effort — it’s picking methods that keep working even on the weeks you can’t get out there.
Which Methods Actually Reduce Your Future Workload
Sort the tools by how much ongoing labor they demand. That matters as much as how well they kill weeds.
Lowest ongoing labor (best fit if time or physical stamina is limited): mulching, silage tarps / occultation, no-till practices, and cover crops used as living mulch. Most of the effort is front-loaded; once they’re in place they keep suppressing weeds with little or no repeat work.
Higher ongoing labor (needs repeated sessions): hand weeding and flame weeding. Both work well for spot treatment, but neither “stays done” the way a good mulch layer or tarp does.
Shifting the overall design toward more perennial plantings — fruiting shrubs, permanent mulched beds, food-forest edges — also cuts the total weeding burden over time. Perennial systems spend fewer days a year with bare, disturbed soil inviting weeds in. That’s one reason this fits the way we work the land here.
Mulching
Cover the soil with straw, leaves, or wood chips. You block light, smother seedlings, hold moisture, and add organic matter as the layer breaks down. Once it’s down, you mostly just top it up. Around the nursery beds and under the currants and gooseberries we keep a steady wood-chip layer; it cuts the weekly weeding dramatically.
Cover Crops
Fast-growing plants sown between crop cycles — clover, rye, buckwheat — crowd out weed seedlings by competing for light, water, and nutrients. When you cut them or leave them in place they feed the soil for the next planting. On beds we plan to rest or plant later, a living mulch of clover does real work.
Companion Planting
Dense, low-growing plants like clover used as living mulch between rows do suppress weeds simply by covering the ground. The popular claim that marigolds suppress weeds or repel pests by root chemicals is mostly folklore. Research shows marigold root exudates can actually inhibit some nearby plants, and marigolds attract aphids and Japanese beetles. They still have limited value as a trap crop or pollen source for beneficials — just not as a weed suppressor.
Hand Weeding
Still the right tool for precise spot work — right around a seedling’s base where a hoe or mulch can’t reach. Pull by the roots. Use a hoe or cultivator on larger areas when the soil is workable. It’s labor-intensive, so we save it for the places the low-labor methods miss.
Solarization
Clear plastic traps heat and kills weed seeds in the top layer. Clear the bed, lay the plastic, secure the edges, leave it 4–6 weeks in the hottest stretch of summer. It also harms beneficial microbes short-term (most recolonize later). In our shorter, cooler Central New York season it is less reliable than in longer, hotter climates, so we treat it as one tool among several rather than the primary method.
Silage Tarps (Occultation)
Opaque black silage tarps block light. Seeds that germinate underneath run out of light and die. The moderate warming speeds decomposition of residue and supports soil life rather than cooking it. Particularly useful against tough perennials like bindweed or quackgrass — often a full season under the tarp is needed to exhaust the roots. Because it doesn’t rely on intense heat, occultation is more dependable here than solarization and is the first method we reach for on a badly overgrown bed.
Weed Mats
Woven fabric or plastic barrier for permanent pathways or between established perennial rows. Blocks light, conserves moisture, reduces erosion. We use them on the permanent paths between nursery rows so we don’t keep fighting the same ground.
Flame Weeding
A propane torch briefly heats foliage until the cells burst. Fast for pathways or between rows, but only in areas clear of mulch, dry grass, or other flammable material. Follow the torch’s safety instructions exactly.
No-Till Gardening
Leave the soil undisturbed. Tilling brings dormant weed seeds to the surface where they germinate. A bed left under mulch or compost keeps most of that seed bank buried. It also protects soil structure and the fungal and microbial life we rely on.
Intercropping
Growing two or more crops in the same space fills the light, water, and root room weeds would otherwise take. A densely planted bed simply leaves less opening for anything else to establish.
Further Reading
• Are Marigolds Good Companion Plants? — Garden Myths
The right mix depends on your soil, your climate, and how much time and energy you realistically have in a given season. Lean on mulch, tarps, and no-till to do the heavy lifting. Save hand weeding and flame weeding for the spots that need precision. Tackle an overwhelmed bed in stages rather than all at once. A garden that gets away from you for a season isn’t a failure — it’s just the next thing to work back from, one manageable step at a time.
Seasonal next step (mid-September into October here): Walk the beds that are closest to seeding. Cut them down, drop cardboard or a silage tarp on the worst patches, and top with wood chips where you can still plant this fall or next spring. That front-loaded work will still be suppressing weeds when the ground freezes and when you’re busy with other jobs next season.
