Weeding – Three Approaches

When Annie and I were weeding in her garden the other day, we went for “total weed eradication.” Our goal was to get rid of every weed in the garden – and then identify the weeds from the plants when it became clear that we were going to get rained out.

And, while it’s the most common, it’s only one approach to weeding. In addition to “total weed eradication,” I practice both random weeding and selective weeding. Sometimes, total weed eradication is overwhelming – especially if I’m looking at a big bed. Sometimes, I just don’t have time to get rid of every weed. And, that’s where both selective weeding and random weeding come in.

I do what I call “Random weeding” when I’m just strolling through and notice a “random” weed here and there. I pull what I notice and leave the rest for later. This approach to weeding requires the least amount of time. Mostly, I do random weeding on the way home from walking the dog or when I’m on the way to the car or compost bin.

Selective weeding is more than random weeding and less than total weed eradication. Selective weeding is getting rid of just one type of weed in the garden. It’s what happens when I say, “Today, I’m going to get rid of all the clover, or violets, or dandelion, or tree-lets, or grass spears.”

WARNING: Selective weeding can turn into Total Weed Eradication. It’s happened to me. I’m out in the garden pulling up violets, and then I pull up the tree-lets, and the next thing I know, it’s three hours later and I’ve accomplished Total Weed Eradication.

These are the three ways weeds get eliminated in Auntie K’s Garden. Does anyone have another approach?