Weeding is a gardener’s favourite pastime… said no one ever!

Thankfully there is a lot of ways to limit the amount of weeding required to keep your garden looking great, and over time it will get easier and easier if you implement some of these techniques.

1- Mulch, mulch, mulch – Straw, wood chips, shredded leaves… any organic matter will help your soil over time as well as stop weeds from growing.

Mulch pathways early to stop weed problems before they start – a layer of cardboard underneath the mulch will stop any perennial from growing through the mulch.

Any exposed soil left bare is a weed magnet, so make sure plants will cover it or cover it with something else if you don’t want to weed it.

2- Black plastic is a great way to rid yourself of any weeds, but anything that doesn’t let light through will work (old swimming pool liner, tarp, old carpeting, sheet metal). Just make sure it is secured to the ground, as wind can pick it up and potentially send it flying (except for carpet!). It’s the lazy way to weed, and the only way to work on perennial weeds that are hard to kill by just pulling them out. 

Take weed patrol walks frequently to catch flowering weeds before they produce seeds – Over time there will be less and less weed seeds in your soil and weeding becomes a breeze. Make sure that there isn’t any around your garden since seeds can be blown away and potentially land in your soil!

3- Cultivating, hoeing and hand pulling are still the major control methods for weeding. It might sound like a lot of works and is usually still needed even if you use mulch. But over time it will be less and less necessary if you make sure that no more weeds go to seed and perennial weeds are under control.

Some weeds that you don’t want to be tilling are dandelions and quackgrass, since they’ll grow back from any tiny piece of root left in the ground.

Hoeing can be a fast way to get rid of tiny annual weeds starting to grow. Doing it at the right time with a sharp hoe makes weeding easy. Make sure you hold it properly and keep your back straight so that it doesn’t become painful.

And then hand weeding is always necessary to get the weeds that grow really close to your plants. It doesn’t have to be time consuming and boring, as you can see the progress you’re making right away. But if it’s a large task, it’s a good idea to break it up in smaller parts than to get discouraged or trying to get it all done in one go and get really sore. The key is to not get overwhelmed by waiting too long to get started – weeds can grow really fast in the summer!

Boiling water can also be used on annual weeds, but it will also kill life in your soil. I would only advise using this method when uprooting is really difficult, like between blocks or on a stone walkway.

And remember that some weeds are actually useful. You can feed them to the chickens, or eat them yourself – Lamb’s quarter and purslane are very nutritive, plantain and dandelion are highly medicinal. My favourite thing about gardening is that I can snack there all day without planning to bring any!

Want to learn more about growing vegetables? Sign up for my free workshop ‘’ How to get started growing a vegetable garden’’ happening March 28 at 6pm. Click here to register!

Gardening can feel intimidating when you’ve never broke ground… or when your soil is rock hard! But you can start without digging and you can do it even if you don’t have a yard! All you need is a deck or a very large window.

Growing in pots and containers is an easy way to get some experience growing veggies and herbs. It is easier on the body as you can set it up in a way that is more comfortable for you. Weeds are less of a pain to control and fertility is easier to manage, but it also requires more watering since plant roots only have a limited space to reach water.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Make sure there’s holes in the bottom of your containers. We can get a lot of water in a single rain storm and with nowhere else to go, the water will rot your plants roots!

• Make sure you put your pots in a sunny location. South facing always get more sun than North facing, and most plants do prefer more sun than less (even if you like the shade!).

• Feed your plant regularly as most potting soil do not contain much nutrition. You can add some compost while planting but it’s a good idea to add some liquid fertilizer throughout the growing season.

• Acclimate your plants: if you started growing indoors but it’s warm enough out, make sure you slowly put your plants outside over time: one hour the first day, 2 hours the next, etc… as they can get sun burnt or get too cold, depending on the difference of temperature and lighting between indoor and outside. Think about it as your first time in the sun in the Spring and you get sunburn.

• The more potting soil the better. I know these little pots look really cute, but bigger containers will need to be watered less often and plants will get much bigger roots if they get a chance (so they’re less likely to die!).

• Some plants will die. Not all plants enjoy living in pots, and some have very short life span. So part of the process of caring for plants is also getting rid of the non thriving plants, it’s part of life! There is not a gardener out there who has never killed a plant.

  Will you give container gardening a try this year?

When planning your vegetable garden, it can be a good idea to incorporate some flowers into the mix. If you’re like me, you don’t need any extra info to be convinced of the benefits of growing flowers, but for the tough guys out there, here is why:

• Flowers can attract and feed a lot of pollinators, which will help the rest of the garden (especially your tomato plants!). Some of the best plants are Milkweed, coneflower and yarrow… Make sure you plant them somewhere they won’t be in the way as they are perennial and will come back every year (Bonus point! You only have to plant them once)

• Some flowers are awesome companions for your veggies. Mostly Nasturtium and marigold can be planted around most everything and will chase away pests or attract pest eating bugs.

• Flowers also help biodiversity thrive. And when this happens, Nature takes it’s course so that you usually don’t have to intervene as much.

• Most flowers are edible! Now make sure you check before gobbling them up! Some of them are also toxic… A lot of plants also have very powerful medicinal properties. I personally use a lot of them like yarrow and catnip in teas and calendula to make cream. We also use some of them in our biodynamic preparations like Dandelion, Chamomille, Yarrow and Valerian.

• Flowers add a splash of color to your garden. It will make it more enjoyable to spend time in, as beauty is necessary to our well-being. Don’t hesitate to bring the flowers indoors too! The more you cut them, the more they will grow back.

So I hope you will include some flowers in this year’s garden if you haven’t already!

Happy Planting!