Garden Update – Tips for Weeding!
on Jun 11, 2013, Updated Jul 18, 2020
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Another week has passed! So quickly…as I look back at my goals from last week, I realize that I accomplished very little. 🙂 But I did get a few things accomplished in my garden this past week. Come take a look at my weekly garden update!
Last week I decided to finally clean out my carrot area. I hadn’t found any carrots after 2 plantings, so I decided they just never germinated. I headed over there with my hoe and was just about to start whacking when I spied it!
Here are a few tips for weeding:
1. I wait to weed – unless I’m certain that the weeds are in fact, weeds, I leave them alone until I can tell for sure. Patience is a virtue.
2. I use my rakes and the hand cultivator like the one my father in law gave me, but I’m not afraid to put them down, get down on my hands and knees, and weed with my fingers.
3. Know what your plants will look like after they germinate! This Vegetable Plant Identification from Seed to Seedling at Gardening-Advice.com is a great place to look!! I can’t tell you how many little seedlings I’ve accidentally disturbed because I wasn’t careful. 🙁
4. Use carefully prepared soil to minimize weed growth in the first place. One of the ideas behind square foot gardening {not that I’m a square foot gardener}, is that planting in tight plots reduces the need weeding. I might have to look more carefully at that option, myself! 🙂
5. I have found that weeds come out easiest after a nice rain! Don’t be afraid to get a little muddy. In fact, next to my hoe, my mud boots are my number one must have in the garden!
How do you weed? Please share some of your own tips!
Here’s what else is going on in my garden:
My son helped me plant watermelon and pie pumpkins. We still have giant pumpkins, cantaloupe, and another type of melon to plant. We have to get that done tomorrow! I also planted my orange Okra. I can’t wait to see it grow!
The cucumbers I started from seed and transplanted are flowering! The cucumbers I direct sowed are up and looking good, but not flowering yet.
But here is the real reason for the lack of progress at my garden:
And that’s what’s going on in my garden. What’s going on in yours? Do you have a tip for weeding that I didn’t mention? Or, know what the annoying holes are in my garden? I’d love to hear!
It’s voles, or field mice as you stated that is eating your corn. Be careful, because now that it’s gone they will go after other tasty morsels. I’m fighting those little boogers this year too. 🙁
OH man. My heart sank when I read your post, Jen. And wouldn’t you know, my son wants to catch them and keep them as pets. So far, the only damage seems to be to the corn so I’m curious where they will go next. I’m also curious what you have tried so far to get rid of them?
We had voles a couple years ago, we flooded the holes with the garden hose and hubby whacked then as they ran out. A little crude but it got rid of them and none have moved in since.
Thanks for the lesson on it’s. I do appreciate those who know and use our language well.
It appears that you ran short of editing/re-reading time and trusted a spell checker. See the note on the pic of missing cornstalks.
Seems that we all do this from time to time.
Ha! I see the problem and appreciate you pointing my mistake that out. 🙂 Consider it fixed.