I’ve always found gardens to be a fascinating micro-environment. There is something deeply soothing about the symmetrical element that human stewardship brings to a garden. Mixed with the seemingly random designs of nature, a garden comes together to be a beautiful blending of natural forces and the human spirit. But there is something about gardens that ever since I was a little kid, I have never really understood. Why do some plants get to grow in the garden, and some don’t? “Weeds”; the infamous bad guys that are here to destroy all of our hard work and claim our garden as their own. Let’s take a closer look at these “bad guys”, because understanding them better can help us understand our gardens better.
A “weed” is defined as a plant that is not valued where it is growing. Though some “weeds” we don’t want anywhere near our gardens, this does not necessarily mean that all “weeds” are harmful to our gardens. Some can actually be very helpful for us depending on how we use them. We will take a closer look at some of the more common weeds here is the Gunnison Valley and some techniques to either work with the weeds, or dispose of them in more efficient ways.
General weed techniques.
By far the most efficient way to control weeds in your garden is to have your garden fight against them for you. This can be done by not letting bare soil stay exposed. Planting smaller crops between your main crops (such as broad sowing greens) that you harvest from while they are small is a good way to fight against weeds. So is planting cover crops such as clover or legumes. These cover crops will outcompete the weeds, and help to nourish your soil. Another technique for covering exposed soil is to mulch it. This will make it harder for the weed’s seeds to germinate, and also have the side effect of helping retain water in your garden. Watering only where you need to water is another good technique to limit weeds through your garden.
Grass. Smooth broom (Bromus inermis) & Cheat grass (Bromus tectorum)
The two main grasses that gardeners struggle with here is cheat grass and broom grass. When mechanically removing both grasses, it is important to remove the roots as well because grasses spread through their roots. One trick that can help you keep them out of your garden is to create a perimeter around your beds. If you are growing in a raised bed, you can lay down cardboard at the bottom of your bed, to stop the roots from coming up into your garden. If you bed is on the ground, then you can dig a trench at least 8” deep around your garden bed that you place cardboard down into. This will stop the roots from coming in from the side. Grasses are prolific though, and a little bit of weeding every day is going to be your best approach. Looking at cheat grass specifically we can turn one of its strengths into its downfall. Cheat grass got its name from the way that it cheats the growing season by popping up earl in the spring, and going to seed by mid-summer. We can go after cheat grass early in the season before we get our seeds or starters in the ground.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Dandelions are the most notorious “weed” that isn’t really a weed. Dandelions are not listed as an A, B, or even C noxious weed, and some weeding companies don’t even remove them. Though dandelions can be problematic for a manicured lawn, they have many advantages when used in the right way. Firstly, they are a vital food source for many pollinators coming out of winter since they are one of the earliest flowering plants. In addition to being great food for pollinators, they are also great food for us. Every part of the dandelion is edible, and they have one of the highest concentrations of vitamin A that is found in any leafy green. Their greens make great additions to salads, and when dried, their roots make a great and healthy tea. The reason dandelions are so prolific, is because they are a dynamic accumulator. They have a deep perennial tap root that they grow out of every season, and is almost impossible to fully pull out of the ground. But this tap root also makes the dandelion a great resource for us. This root pulls nutrients up from deep down in the soil that normally other plants don’t have access to. The leaves of the dandelions can be added to our compost to reintroduce these nutrients back into the soil at a level that the rest of your garden can access.
Lamb’s quarter ( Amaranthavease)
Lambsquarter, also known as white goosefoot, is a widespread weed. It grows well in deserted soil (i.e our garden beds). This plant is a member of the amaranth family which also includes quinoa and spinach. This plant is edible, and often called wild spinach. Lambs quarter is easy to manually pull while it is still young.
Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
Bindweed is often a nightmare for gardeners. Due to the massive underground root system that can extend multiple feet, hand pulling bindweed will only fuel the fire of root propagation. Repeated manual pulling, and excavation of the roots, is really the only way to rid your garden of the bind weed. However, redirecting its growth and trimming it back can also be an effective way to minimize its impact on your garden.
Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense)
Canada Thistle is by far the most widespread and common weed found here in Colorado. This plant is a nightmare for gardeners. Similar to field bindweed and yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris), this plant can spread underground through rhizomes. Hand pulling the weeds can propagate the roots, and their seeds spread easily through the air. Cutting these plants back can be one of the easiest ways to deal with them.
Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Common purslane is a succulent similar to the native Coloradan plant stonecrop. Purslane spreads though micro seeds, which means that it this weed will pretty much always be with you. Luckily they are very easy to mechanically pull. At our farm, once a crop is well established we will often let the purslane grow around them because they compete very little with the other crops, and can help prevent erosion. They are also edible, and have a slight lemony flavor.
Spiny sow-thistle (Sonchus asper)
Spiny sow-thistle is less hardy than Canada thistle. The leaves are waxy and the stem is actually a tube versus thick fibers like in the Canada thistle. Like other thistles, the spiny sow-thistle is edible. Though the spikes can be a little intimidating, they can be broken down through the process of cooking or simply rolling in-between hands. Spiny sow-thistle, unlike Canadian thistle, does not spread through its roots, so pulling them can be an effective way to keep them under control.
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
Many of us know alfalfa as a crop that is grown for feeding livestock, but this plant can also have benefits for us in our garden. It is edible when it is a sprout, and the flowers are edible as well. Along with being something that we can harvest from our gardens early in the season, this plant has benefits for our garden. Alfalfa is part of the legume family, meaning that it has those rhizobia bacteria that introduce nitrogen back into our soil. They also make a great biomass to add to your compost.
What plants we consider “weeds” can be a very subjective thing when we are looking at our gardens. We should take a closer look at what we have growing and try to learn about th3ese plants so we can either find more effective ways to deal with them, or learn about what services they are providing us for free.