Get Rid of Garden Weeds Organically

Here are 11 best ways to get rid of garden weeds organically;

1- Suffocate them

Just like the plants you actually want in your garden beds, weeds have a hard time surviving without adequate sunlight. You can kill existing weeds, prevent new ones from growing and help keep moisture in the soil for the plants you do want using a little bit of all the newspaper and some garden mulch. Simply cover the area with several layers of large newspaper strips, newspaper is biodegradable, then put enough mulch on top of the paper to cover it completely.

2- Pull them out

Sure this sounds simple but anyone who has tried to keep up with weeds by pulling them knows that it is not always so easy. For weeds close to your herbs or veggies in raised beds and containers, it's often the best way to go. The best time to pull weeds is when the soil is still moist from watering. Pull slowly from the base of the weed to get the best chance of pulling a root out and make sure to use garden gloves for spiny plants like thistles.

3- Mix up some homemade herbicide

Chemical herbicides are a bad idea for all, but you can make your own homemade herbicide without chemicals fairly easy. Get a good quality spray bottle and fill it with two cups of white vinegar, a half cup of salt and a tiny bit of dish soap. Make sure you mix it up very well so that the salt dissolves as much as possible or the spray bottle might get clogged up. Be careful using this remedy near your garden beds because it could kill your veggies as well.

4- Scald them

The next time you are boiling potatoes or pasta, instead of dumping the water down the drain, dump it right onto the weeds growing in the cracks of your sidewalk or patio or along garden paths. Be careful of your hands and feet and keep children and pets away.  Don't try this method with garden beds as it will damage the quality of your soil and kill anything it touches.

5- Sort them

This is another method you need to be very careful with and is best for areas where you don't want anything to grow again, ever. But a simple sprinkling of salt along the edges of your lawn, between cracks in the sidewalk or in garden pathways, will kill weeds. Be careful, though, it leaves the soil barren and can damage concrete. At the end of the snowy season, you can usually get a pretty good deal on rock salt, which works great for this, but any kind of salt will do.

6- Burn them

You can get a propane-powered weed scorcher at most garden stores or just use a handheld blowtorch. You do not have to actually set the weeds on fire, in fact in an area with dry grass that can be pretty dangerous, just running a hot flame over them will usually cause them to lose all their internal moisture. They will shrivel up and die in just a few days.

7- Crowd them out

For ornamental garden areas, you can use a bit of advanced planning to make sure you will rarely or never have to pull weeds. You can go to your local nursery and find many grounds covering plants for shade and sun that will prevent weeds from getting the sunlight, water and soil nutrients they need to survive.

8- Plan ahead and solarize your beds

If you have any empty garden beds during the summer or even late spring - if you live in a warmer area, you can get them ready for autumn planting by solarizing them. This will get rid of any weeds that are growing now and cut back on the number that will grow in the upcoming season.

9- Eradicate them with oil

We are not talking about diesel oil, old engine oil or gasoline - those things are all toxic to your soil and should never be used on garden weeds but you can use cheap vegetable oils like sunflower or canola oil. These oils are biodegradable and are broken down by bacteria in the soil and contain natural herbicide and pesticide properties.

10- Raise chickens

Chickens have many uses in addition to supplying fresh eggs, they can even help tackle your weed problem. They are great at scavenging in the garden and lightly tilling the soil too. While preparing your garden bed each spring, chickens will happily pluck at those early growing weeds and devour the seeds of weeds that are waiting to sprout as the season progresses. At the end of summer, let your chickens run amok so that they can clean up your garden.

11- Corn gluten

Corn gluten is a natural byproduct of processing corn into cornmeal that can stop seeds from becoming full-grown weeds. They won't harm existing plants and as an added bonus, it has high nitrogen content so it feeds your soil as well.