Best way and easiest way to remove weeds from the garden?

[Anneem]

Thank you, that’s just the information I was looking for. My personal nemesis is smartweed, though every year a new weed variety appears.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Thank you, that’s just the information I was looking for. My personal nemesis is smartweed, though every year a new weed variety appears.

The new weeds probably show your efforts are having an effect. We once did a study placing a grid over a large bonfire area where orchard prunings had been burnt and mapping what grew each year. As the nutrients from the ash were used up the weeds gradually changed until after about four or five years it had gone back to grass, but with docks, nettles, fireweed and plantains being dominant at stages in between.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The new weeds probably show your efforts are having an effect. We once did a study placing a grid over a large bonfire area where orchard prunings had been burnt and mapping what grew each year. As the nutrients from the ash were used up the weeds gradually changed until after about four or five years it had gone back to grass, but with docks, nettles, fireweed and plantains being dominant at stages in between.

Ok...Who actually does that? Tip of the Hat, Sir...

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It was a long time ago when I was a teenager. My Dad was a biology teacher and he wanted the results for his class. We hammered in four permanent stakes and made up a wooden square that fitted over them with nails along it that we could string up for the grid. We did the same sort of thing with a larger area of coppiced sweet chestnut seeing how things changed from bluebells and foxgloves to honeysuckle and bramble as the trees grew back.

 

[Anneem]

It was a long time ago when I was a teenager. My Dad was a biology teacher and he wanted the results for his class. We hammered in four permanent stakes and made up a wooden square that fitted over them with nails along it that we could string up for the grid. We did the same sort of thing with a larger area of coppiced sweet chestnut seeing how things changed from bluebells and foxgloves to honeysuckle and bramble as the trees grew back.

That’s pretty cool and it gives me a glimmer of hope.

 

[danieljamar]

Two things work for me, occultation (covering the area with material) this will kill anything, does not disturb the soil, and is very easy to do but takes about a month. The other is hand weeding around plants that are too tight to occultate, for these i use a Grinweeder, which is a high quality sharp handmade tool i got on facebook.

 

[Susan BBPM]

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately I’m way past prevention but is it possible cover crops might help in the long run?My half acre lot is inundated with weeds probably because most of it is clay. I’ve been slowly amending the soil bed by bed. If I removed weeds, added a bit of decent soil, and planted a cover crop (in the fall?) would that help moving forward? What cover crops would you recommend for small suburban beds? I’ll appreciate any guidance.

This may or may not help, depending upon what stage your beds are at.

In May of last year I made some wooden frames, placed them on my weedy front lawn and put thin card and paper on top of the grass/weeds. I then put a layer of about 3-4 inches of compost on top of the paper and planted them up.

This is how they looked by July 7th.

ERM_7779 by Paul Roberts, on Flickr

Now it's more than a year later and doing better than ever, growing flowers and veg. The grass is long gone, and the clay underneath is mixing in nicely with the compost. All I did was put a very thin layer (about an inch) of compost on top of the beds last December.
If this is of interest to you a good source of info is Charles Dowding on youtube.

Also, worth looking into what many on here advise which is using a solution of molasses or sugar to feed the soil organisms and break up the clay. I haven't tried it but quite a few people here swear by it.

I can also vouch for cover crops for when your beds need to be empty (although I have far less experience than others). Clover and field beans grow extremely well in the UK - I would imagine much depends upon your climate.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

for these i use a Grinweeder, which is a high quality sharp handmade tool i got on facebook.

Is there possibly a typo? I tried 'Grinweeder' and 'Grinweeder facebook' on Google and the only relevant thing to come up was your post.
I use an onion hoe for most things like that that a full size hoe is too clumsy for.

 

[danieljamar]

Is there possibly a typo? I tried 'Grinweeder' and 'Grinweeder facebook' on Google and the only relevant thing to come up was your post.
I use an onion hoe for most things like that that a full size hoe is too clumsy for.

Facebook is heavy into Ai (artificial intelligence), which means results vary from user to user and from click to click. I hope this is not the future of everything. Anyway, when i search for it, it is the first thing that comes up, here is a link https://www.facebook.com/Grinweeder