Any gardener will know that weed control is part of gardening. But in a sustainable garden, weeding without chemicals is a must.
Getting rid of weeds in our garden can be time-consuming and hard work. So it’s no surprise that many of us opt for chemical herbicides to make the job easier.
However, these chemicals can have a huge impact on our environment. Most of them are petrochemicals, which means they were made from fossil fuels.
Herbicides, like other pesticides, can affect non-target species through spray drift, wind distribution, run-off and soil erosion. (Prosser et al., 2016)
This can lead to air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution, all of which can lead to biodiversity loss. (Tudi et al., 2021)
This shows that anyone who wants to implement eco-friendly gardening at their home, has to stop using chemical weedkillers.
The good news is, you don’t need them. There are many ways to control weed growth in a natural and sustainable way.
7 Ways Of Weeding Without Chemicals
We use almost all these methods in our own garden to keep weeds at bay. But we also tolerate weeds more than the average gardener, because we know that they are important for many of the creatures who made our garden their home.
We leave wild areas, where anything that grows is just left and is only scythed down once a year to stop it from becoming a jungle. But we don’t weed this area.
The same goes for our wildflower meadow, which doesn’t need weeding, just scything down in late summer, and we go over with the lawn mower once in winter to keep the grass low enough for the wildflowers to have space to come out in spring.
This only leaves our vegetable beds and the patio areas to weed. And to keep them weed-free we use some of the following techniques.
1. Hand-Weeding
The most efficient way to keep weeds under control without resorting to chemical weedkillers is to weed your garden by hand.
Depending on the size of your garden, this can be a relatively small job or a huge one that will take several hours.
To keep on top of it, I would recommend hand-weeding your garden regularly between spring and autumn. Doing this will make it a quicker and easier job, because younger plants won’t have established their roots yet and will be easier to pull out.
Weeding by hand doesn’t only mean to go down on your knees and pull out every weed by hand. There are tools that can help:
Dutch Hoe
This tool is great if bending over isn’t right for you. It allows you to stay upright, while you dislodge the weeds.
It’s best used on beds with soft soil and ideally empty ones, although you can weed around plants if you’re careful.
Using this tool makes light work of getting rid of annual weeds, but isn’t so useful for stubborn perennial weeds, such as nettles or dandelions.
I use a Dutch hoe for my empty vegetable beds in spring before adding a layer of mulch. And again in autumn after my veggies have finished cropping.
Trowel
Every gardener will have one of those in their shed. For tougher perennial weeds with larger and thicker roots, a trowel is just the thing.
You can dig out the roots of stubborn weeds such as dandelions, brambles or creeping buttercups. While it can be hard work, it’s also very satisfying.
Weed Puller
This handy tool allows you to stay upright to pull out weeds. You just push it into the soil where the weed is, twist the tool and pull it back out.
A weed puller is great for stubborn weeds with longer, stronger roots like dandelions, without having to dig them out.
While I haven’t used this kind of tool myself yet, it’s something I will keep in mind for when bending down becomes more difficult in the future.
There are many eco-friendly products you can use to make sustainable gardening easier.
2. Smother Weeds
Another way to control weeds in your garden naturally is by suppressing or smothering them. This can be easily done by adding a thick layer of organic mulch, such as compost or wood chips, on top of your bed.
This will smother any weeds that have already come up and suppress others. It has to be quite a thick layer though, and you need to top it up with organic matter every year.
The organic mulch won’t just suppress any unwanted weeds, but it will also release nutrients into the soil as it breaks down.
We do that every year in spring, to prepare the beds for the new veggie plants and keep weeds down so we don’t have to weed too often before we transplant our vegetables.
This works great with annual weeds that have weed seeds in the soil and are just waiting for the right conditions to germinate and come up.
3. Blocking Weeds
For more established perennial weeds, mulch might not be enough. But that doesn’t mean weeding without chemicals isn’t possible.
To block these weeds from coming up, put a layer of cardboard on your beds. You can use flattened cardboard boxes, but make sure you remove all the tape.
This barrier will stop stubborn weeds from coming through and over time will weaken them and eventually get rid of them.
Autumn is a great time to use this method, and you don’t even have to weed the bed first as the cardboard will block the plant from getting the light it needs. You can add a layer of mulch too.
Another way to block weed is to put down plastic sheets on your beds. But plastic is out of question in an eco-friendly garden, because you don’t want it to leak microplastics into your soil.
The solution: a biodegradable mulch film that does the same but isn’t made of plastic. It will biodegrade over time and turn into harmless materials.
4. Cutting Back Weeds Regularly
If you cut back perennial weeds regularly, you will weaken them, which will eventually lead to them dying off.
That’s a great option if digging out the roots is difficult. It’s important that you cut the weeds back regularly and don’t let them go to seed, as this is how they will spread.
By cutting the plant to ground level as soon as you spot it, you deprive it of the ability to generate nutrients. This will force it to use up its stored reserves.
Over time, this will weaken the plant and eventually eradicate it. It’s not a quick fix though, as this can take several years.
But it’s still a good option if removing the roots won’t work for some reason.
This method works for weeds like nettles, thistles or weeds with similar strong roots.
5. Create Physical Barriers
If you are worried about weeds from a wild patch spreading into the rest of your garden, you can create physical barriers to prevent this.
Edge borders are great for around lawns to stop grass from spreading into your beds and borders. There are many different types, but you want to make sure that you choose one that’s made from a natural material rather than plastic.
Root barriers are similar to edge borders, but they go much deeper into the ground. They are used to stop vigorous weeds from spreading to the rest of your garden.
You can also use this method to contain plants that you planted but don’t want to spread out. These could include mint, blackberries, raspberries or bamboo.
6. Use Covering Plants
Weeds will appear everywhere, but especially on bear soil. So if you plant selectively in our borders or beds, the soil around the plants is likely to be inhabited by weeds.
To prevent that from happening, you can plant up the bare soil with cover plants. There are many ground covering plants that you can use that won’t interfere with the flowers or bushes you planted.
They will grow low and cover the ground, keeping weeds from popping up.
If you’re growing vegetables, you want to opt for other edible plants, such as radishes, lettuce, thyme or spinach.
They will fulfil the same function, but you can also eat them, which is what you want from your veggie patch, right?
7. Natural Weedkillers
There are also natural weedkillers that don’t contain any harmful or toxic chemicals. These are especially useful for weeds growing on paths, paving, patios, etc.
One thing you should keep in mind is that because these natural homemade weedkillers don’t contain toxic chemicals, one application might not be enough.
You might have to repeat using them several times over a few weeks.
Boiling Water
It might sound simple, but it’s quite effective. Simply pour the boiling water straight from the kettle onto the weeds.
I use this method every time when I have boiled too much water when making tea or during cooking. This saves water and energy.
It will work for weeds that come up in the cracks between paving slaps on pathways, patios or driveways.
You can use it in beds or borders, but you need to be careful not to splash nearby plants, as this could damage them.
Personally, I only use it in areas where no other plants are near enough to be impacted.
Table Salt
We know that salt is a very useful substance for people who want to live a more sustainable life. It’s great for homemade cleaners and can be used to keep wounds clean.
Its capability to dehydrate bacteria makes it a great disinfectant, but this also works with plants. Large amounts of salt dissolved in water can therefore act as a natural weedkiller.
Mix the table salt with water at the ratio of 1:2 and then spray on weeds.
While very effective, you need to use it carefully, as you don’t want the salt to leach into the soil, because it will change its pH level. That will impact on any plants you want to grow in the soil.
So this isn’t a homemade weedkiller to use in beds and borders. However, on patios, pavements, driveways, etc., it will work well.
Citric Acid
Another useful natural substance to have in the house is citric acid. You can find it in lemons, and it’s what makes them sour. It’s a great limescale remover and can be used to descale your kettle.
Crucially for eco-friendly gardeners, it also causes plants to shrivel up if exposed to citric acid. This can be used against weeds.
All you need is some lemons, juice them and pour over the weeds. You can also buy lemon juice in the supermarket. However, these tend to contain preservatives. Personally, I prefer to use the juice straight from lemons.
This method will work on paths, patios, etc. I wouldn’t use it in my beds or borders.
All of the above are natural effective weedkillers that don’t contain any nasty chemicals, and therefore are a great weapon in the battle against weeds for sustainable gardeners.
Use A Combination Of Methods For Best Results
As you have seen, weeding without chemicals can take different forms. Some are more labour and time-consuming than others.
Which one you choose is up to you and will largely be dictated by the needs of your garden. However, by using more than one method you will get the best results.
In our eco-friendly garden we do a lot of weeding by hand, including the use of trowels and the good old Dutch hoe. We have some stubborn weeds that grow from under our hedge, which we cut back regularly to weaken and eventually eradicate them.
Every spring, we add a thick layer of mulch to our veggie beds, just after we added garden probiotics to the soil. This keeps our beds weed-free until we are ready to plant out our vegetable plants in early summer.
We do also use some of the natural weedkillers, namely boiling water and lemon juice. This allows us to control weeds in a way that benefits us and all the wildlife in our garden.
Why don’t give these methods a go and start your journey to becoming an eco-friendly gardener?
