FREE OF WEEDS

Niva and Yotam Kay of Pakaraka Permaculture on the Cormandel Peninsula, have written the book on weeding strategies. Well, it’s a chapter in The Abundant Garden, nonetheless, they share what they learned here in this extract

OPPOSITE The right tools for the job – two large hoes, a file, niwashi and a medium stirrup hoe.

WEEDING TOOLS

• We do most of our weeding with two styles of hoe: one has a long handle about our height, and the other has a short handle about 25cm long (10 inches). With this combination of quality hoes, we’re able to reach any weeds that dare to show themselves. • Keep the blades of the hoe sharp by giving them a quick sharpen with a file before you start weeding. Just like a chef wouldn’t work with a blunt knife, a gardener shouldn’t use a blunt hoe. A sharp hoe will effortlessly cut weeds, rather than just bruising them and moving them around the bed. This makes weeding physically easier and also more effective, as most young weeds won’t recover from their roots being separated from the stem. • There are many types of hoes of different shapes and sizes. We love our long-handled stirrup hoes (also called oscillating hoes) for most weeding tasks and find that the 12.5cm (5 inch) width is the most useful size. The Japanese or Korean niwashi is our favourite short-handled weeding tool, and is basically a sharp blade on a stick. The niwashi is a versatile tool that can also be used as a trowel.

ABOVE Yotam weeding with a long-handled large hoe. RIGHT Niva harvesting edible alyssum flowers. There are three main strategies we use to establish a weed-free garden. The first is getting rid of the pre-existing weed seeds in the soil, known as the ‘soil’s seed bank’, through short, regular weeding sessions. Seeds can remain dormant until favourable conditions prompt them to grow, so it will take a few seasons to completely exhaust the seed bank, and the wind will continue to blow new seeds onto the beds as well. The trick is to weed little and often; removing weeds when they are small is much easier than when they are established.

The second strategy for a weed-free garden is to avoid soil disturbance using no-till practices. By keeping the soil layers intact, seeds located deep in the soil are not brought to the surface, where the light and warmth will encourage them to germinate.

The final strategy is not to let any weeds get established in the garden. Once weeds are established, they can quickly take over big portions of your cultivated beds, making them even harder to remove. Established weeds develop large quantities of viable seeds, which, once dispersed throughout the garden, will undermine your previous weeding efforts. As the saying goes, ‘one year’s seeds makes seven years of weeds’.

In general, if you think you can see seeds on the plant, those seeds will be viable. Remove these plants carefully, so they don’t drop seeds into the growing bed. These plants should not go directly onto the compost heap. Instead, they can be fed to the chickens or soaked in a bucket of water for a week before being added to the compost pile.

Weeds will always pop up in your garden, but as you work to decrease their number, your workload will also significantly decrease in the years to come.

One of the best ways to maintain a productive garden without hours and hours of labour is to keep the garden as weed-free as possible.

Weeding basics

When weeding, timing is everything. It’s important to do your weeding when the ground is as dry as possible (without damaging crops of course). When the soil is moist from rain or watering, weeds re-root themselves more easily. Aim to weed on a sunny morning, when the sun is beating down, as even large weeds will dry out. Usually, after a few sunny hours, you can turn the irrigation back on. In winter, you will need to pick up most of the weeds you have cut, because they are likely to re-establish themselves if you leave them on the soil.

If there are a lot of weeds in the area where you are planning your garden, you could space your rows so their

“It’s best to avoid pulling weeds as it takes the organic matter from the soil.”

YOTAM AND NIVA KAY

ABOVE Yotam sharpening the stirrup hoe. width matches one of your hoes for efficient weeding. We’ve found this approach hugely helpful when we are establishing a new garden bed.

Weeding doesn’t have to happen only in predetermined weeding sessions. When you are harvesting vegetables and encounter a patch with weeds, it’s worth spending a few minutes to pull them out. If you are already bending down to harvest, take the opportunity to pull out a few weeds as well. Developing a mentality of ‘let’s take care of it’, rather than ‘leave it for later’ goes a long way towards creating a productive garden.

Although weeds will come up throughout the year, you will have spikes of weed pressure at certain times depending on which weeds are predominant in your area. Spring is usually one of these times, as weeds try to grow before the dry weather kicks in. In our garden, there is also a spike in autumn, and we make sure to concentrate our weeding around that time, so we can start the winter with no established weeds.

Repeated shallow cultivation

Weeding with a hoe is more effective when you hit weeds while they are tiny. Once weeds grow larger than about 5cm (2 inches) tall, they don’t die as easily, and it takes significantly more time and effort to weed them. Aim to cut the plants with the hoe, just below the ground so that the leaves are separated from the roots. When plants are young, they rarely recover from this trauma.

In addition to cutting them, young, small weeds can be smothered with a thin layer of soil. Both these strategies allow the weeds to be eliminated without causing a significant disturbance to the soil, as well as leaving the roots’ biomass to decompose in the ground and feed the soil’s biological community. Generally, it’s best to avoid pulling weeds, as it takes organic matter from the soil and causes a disturbance that will often give birth to a new flush of weeds.

When weed pressure is high, hoe the paths and beds every two or three weeks to tackle the weeds when they are vulnerable. This will make a big impact and make weeding easier in future years. It usually takes up to two hours to skim through our 1000sqm garden.

When working with a long-handled hoe, hold the hoe with your thumbs facing up. This helps to keep your back straight and your shoulders broad, maintaining good body posture while doing most of the weeding while standing up. Try it; you’ll be amazed to feel the difference between thumbs up and thumbs down, and how your muscles respond to each position. If you get tired or if the weeds are 5–15cm (2–6 inches) tall, switch to thumbs down so you can apply more force. For weeds larger than 15cm (6 inches), it is usually better to skim them off at ground level with a spade.

Reprinted from The Abundant Garden by Niva and Yotam Kay with permission by Allen & Unwin NZ, $45, 2021. Distributed by Bookreps NZ Ltd. Photography Chris Benzakein. RRP $49.99.

The stale-bed technique

One of the best weeding practices is to weed before your crops are even in the ground. Do this by tricking the weeds into growing; by preparing the bed and keeping it moist, but not planting anything into it, you will create favourable conditions for weeds to germinate. After 10 days to two weeks, a flush of weeds will pop up; hoe the bed to kill these weeds, then keep it dry for another day. Once the weed pressure has reduced, it’s time to plant or sow the vegetables you want to grow.

Covering beds

When a bed is not in use or not going to be planted or sown in a couple of weeks, it is best to cover it with weedmat, tarps or heavy mulch. This helps to protect the soil biology, prevents soil erosion and compaction by rain, and stops the bed from growing a crop of weeds.

Weeds aren’t evil

We also want to say that weeds are not evil! Most plants we consider weeds are usually the first to colonise bare land after a natural disaster. They have an important ecological function as pioneer plants that protect the soil. While they are growing, they improve the conditions for other long-term plants to flourish, and in the meantime, they also feed the soil’s biology.

Many weeds also have medicinal properties, some are edible, and many will flower and provide food for bees and beneficial insects. However, you really don’t want them in your vegetable gardens, so you should systematically get rid of them... but there is no need to resent them while you’re doing so.