Want to Prevent Weeds?

by Lisa Mason Ziegler | Mar 24, 2020

I am having a bit of a hard time focusing on my work at hand. With so much swirling around on TV and devices, it’s hard. My goodness, it’s enough to make even the most optimistic person a sourpuss.

That is until I go out and sink my hands into the soil or start seeds or pet some transplants. It really is an amazing transformation.

So, today as soon as my indoor work is complete, I’m heading out to the garden. I’ll be finishing up my cool-season veggie planting and doing some chores in my Cool Flowers garden that is ready to burst into bloom. Gardening to the rescue for real!

As I contemplated where to plant my beets and lettuce, I was reminded how important it is for me to plant to prevent weeds. You see, I am a self-confessed poor weeder. Basically, I ignore problem areas. I like to blame it on how busy I am but the truth is, I just push weeding down the chore list, and meantime the weeds grow out of control.

My weed preventing strategy:

When I plant transplants in the garden, I plant into beds covered with the biodegradable film that suppresses weeds. It is easy to lay and poke holes in and you can top it with mulch if needed. Learn more and watch a video here. LOVE this stuff!
When I plant seeds straight in the garden into bare soil beds, I leave about 8” between the planted rows so I can quickly and effortlessly run the stand upright garden hoe throughout the bed. I do this every 7-10 days which takes less than 15 minutes for a 80 foot bed with 3 rows. This practice prevents weeds! Watch the video of me doing it here and get your hoe!
When I get down on the ground to weed, thin seedlings, and grade mulch or soil I use the handiest hand tool ever, our hand hoe. I use this hoe for so much that I would truly be lost without it. Because of this hoes design we offer it in right and left-hand models. See the hand hoe in action here.

These steps are how I keep my garden beautiful. It’s not that I’m a slave to my garden weeding, I just do my best to prevent weeds from getting a foothold. You heard it here— preventing weeds is far more fun than pulling weeds!

Lisa Z

Lisa Mason Ziegler is a cut-flower farmer, author, online course producer, and nationally recognized speaker on organic cut-flower farming and gardening.