Natural Weed Control

Weeds can be an annoying and frustrating part of organic gardening, but you don't have to remove every weed to have a good garden. In order to keep control, know what weeds grow in your garden and how they spread.

Organic mulch can act as a weed barrier. For even better weed protection put a layer of newspaper, construction paper, or cardboard which are recycled and biodegradable under the mulch. Mulch membranes can also be purchased which are synthetic, but can be an effective method for longer lasting and easier to maintain.

Corn meal gluten will slow the growth of weeds if spread early in the season before planting, as does solarization. Solarization is where a transparent covering, like plastic sheeting, traps the sun's heat. It takes four to six weeks of sunny weather to pasteurize the soil. The plot of land needs to be prepared by clearing out old plants, stones and weeds. A trench should be dug out around the bed and the garden area should be thoroughly watered. This not only gets rid of any weed seeds but gets rid of diseases as well as insects.

There’s also the old-fashioned art of hand-weeding by hoeing, forking and pulling the weeds. Your best method in weed prevention is persistence. Weeding can be very satisfying and good exercise. Don't wait too long and let it get out of control.

Mulch well and pull and hoe what you can; after a few seasons you can keep good control of the weeds.