Three Types of Weeds

There are three types of weeds in every garden. Once you know these three types of weeds, you’ll have a much better feel for how to control them.

Easy to Pull

The first kind of weed is “easy to pull.” I put weeds like chickweed, purslane, and oxalis into this category. Without much effort, you can usually just reach down and pull them out wherever they are.

But be aware that these weeds have as a defense mechanism something called the gardener’s laziness.

What? Yes. You know about this defense mechanism. “Easy to pull, “when you have the time to do so. In the meantime, while you wait until you find that mythical time, that weed has flowered and set seed at least once, if not twice.

The best method for controlling “easy to pull” is to overcome any “I’ll do that later thoughts” and pull that weed as soon as you see it.

That’s Going to Require Some Tools

Our second type of weed is “that’s going to require some tools.” The king of this kind of weed is the dandelion, but thistle, if pulled probably, also requires a tool or two. Pokeweed is also in this group, along with mulberry tree seedlings, which can literally grow up to five or fifteen feet tall before some gardeners notice them hiding in the shrubbery.

But there’s not a thing you can do to get rid of this type of weed until you such a time as you have the right tool in hand, which depending on the weed and how big it has grown, could be a shovel or backhoe.

The best method for controlling “that’s going to require some tools” weeds is to have an arsenal of tools in your garden shed– dandelion digger, a variety of hoes, pruners, a shovel, dynamite–and use them as needed. (Kidding about the dynamite. I DO NOT RECOMMEND DYNAMITE AS A WEEDING TOOL.)

Is That a Weed?

Our third type of weed is “is that a weed?” These weeds cause you to pause and ask “is this a weed” before reaching to pull them out. Now, we could be flippant here and say if you have to ask, it probably is. But it might not be.

One example is sunflower seedlings. Are they weeds? If you purposely planted them, obviously, they aren’t. But if they are coming up around the bird feeder, they probably are. Unless you let them grow tall enough around the bird feeder that they are flowering. Then they are no longer a weed.

The other example is any plant that you just don’t recognize. When you encounter such a plant in your garden, your two options are to either leave it to see what it might become or pull it out and hope that it wasn’t something you once paid a lot of money for.

The other time-tested method of determining if “is that a weed” is truly a weed is to give it a gentle tug. If it pulls out easily, it probably isn’t a weed. If it seems firmly rooted, well, it could or could not be a weed.

In Conclusion

I hope you’ll be able to use this information about these three types of weeds–easy to pull, that’s going to require some tools, and is that a weed– to keep your own garden fairly weed-free. But always remember, no matter how diligent you are about controlling these three types of weeds, no garden is ever truly weed-free! Just do the best you can!

Update!

I made a graphic to go with this blog post!