Why Weeds are Taking Over (and what to do about it)

Have you ever wondered why weeds are taking over in your garden? We all know that weeds are one of the biggest challenges in our gardens. When they get out of control, we have two choices: spend hours weeding or give up.

Neither option sounds great, does it? Unfortunately we’ve all been there, but there are ways we can prevent weeds from taking over. While we’ll never achieve a 100% weed-free garden, we can take steps to weed “less.”

But first, you need to know why weeds are a problem in your garden in the first place before you can put measures in place to lessen their impact.

Before we begin, if you’d rather watch a video about why weeds are taking over your garden, you can watch here:

Let’s explore why weeds are taking over your garden and what you can do about it with these topics:

• Why Weeds Take Over a Garden
• The Ground is Not Meant to be Bare
• Tilling
• Not Mulching
• Shower Irrigation or Rain
• Your Garden is Too Large
• You’re Not Taking The Time Needed
• Prevent Weeds From Taking Over

Why Weeds Take Over a Garden

The ground is not meant to be bare

Nature is amazing. I think we can all agree, but have you ever looked at your weedy garden and had that thought cross your mind? Probably not. But hear me out.

Any growth on the ground prevents erosion. Why is this important? With erosion, you’ll lose topsoil, which is the nutrient-rich top layer of soil responsible for feeding your plants. We want topsoil, and erosion is the enemy. So, when weeds take over bare soil, it’s nature’s way of protecting this precious resource.

The growth of most plants — including weeds in general — also feed fungal networks in the soil. Those fungal networks scavenge for nutrients to provide to your plants. Again, this is a good thing!

In addition, some weeds remediate poor soil. Clover, for example, will appear in soil with low-nitrogen. This is nature’s way to adding this valuable nutrient back in to support life in the future. Dandelion’s deep roots power through to loosen compacted soil, promoting aeration that plants need.

When you look at it this way, you can see weeds in a different light.

Still, weeds can choke out the plants you want, can harbor pest insects, and frankly, can steal your joy in gardening. That’s why we want to keep them to a minimum, while understanding their function and work on other ways to promote healthy soil instead of weeds doing it (like cover cropping).

Tilling

As beginners, we usually think tilling is the answer to our weed problems. But the opposite is in fact the case.

When you turn the soil, yes, you break up the weeds on the surface, but you’re also bringing up weed seeds from below ground that have never sprouted because they didn’t have access to light.

But now that you’ve turned the soil, guess what those millions of seeds now have? Light! And with any moisture — dew or rain — they are poised to grow. That’s why tilling is a temporary solution but can actually cause the weed problem to increase.

Learn the benefits of a no-till garden here.

Not mulching

Remember how all those weed seeds lay dormant under the soil because they didn’t have access to light?

That’s the same reason why mulching is the gardener’s friend when it comes to preventing weeds from taking over.

Not only that, but when your garden stays bare without mulch, weed seeds blow in and settle in that top layer of moist topsoil, ready to grow.

By covering your garden with mulch, you’re preventing seeds below from sprouting, and you’re preventing most seeds that blow into your garden from gaining access to the soil below.

Whether you choose to till your soil or go no till, mulching the garden is essential to preventing weeds from taking over. Mulching has a lot more benefits than just weed suppression, though (read all the benefits of mulch here.)

How do you choose the right mulch for your garden? Begin with what you have: fallen leaves, straw, and wood chips are my favorite, but here are other mulch options to consider.

Whichever mulch you choose, once you start using it, you’ll see your weed problem decrease dramatically. Again, you’ll never get to zero weeds, but with a properly-mulched garden, weeds will no longer take over like they did before.

Shower irrigation or rain

We already discussed how weeds need access to light to grow, but they also need access to moisture. Coupled with not mulching, just add a rain shower or overhead water your garden, and you’re giving the weeds all they need to take hold.

Of course, you can’t prevent the rain, and we want that in our gardens. But you can avoid showering your garden with water from a sprinkler or garden hose. Instead, opt for drip irrigation that waters the plants at the root level. This also avoids watering the paths (I mean, who wants to weed their garden paths?).

New to drip irrigation? Here are the methods I’ve used in the past.

Your garden is too large

In these last two points, I’m going to give you some tough talk, but understand that I only can speak from experience.

After continually expanding my garden to maybe 3000 square feet (I stopped counting), I realized that, in the words of my teenage daughter’s favorite recording artist: it’s me. I’m the problem. It’s me.

I had created a garden that I loved, and it produced pounds and pounds of food. But despite not tilling, mulching, and using drip irrigation, I still could not keep up. Eventually, I had to make the decision to cut back the space.

For the most part, my problem wasn’t for the lack of working in my garden, but that can be an issue, too.

You’re not taking the time needed

Whether you created a garden too large to maintain, or you’re in a busy season of life, or — let’s be honest — as spring turned to summer you lost your excitement, the truth remains. You haven’t taken the time to keep up with the weeding and maintaining of your garden.

Weeds grow fast and they can get out of control before you know it.

Veteran gardeners have honed the skill of “a little every day.” The goal is to pull the weeds when they’re young and do it often. That way, weeds never truly take over. Instead, they are simply a maintenance task. Like doing dishes or washing clothes. (And we all know what happens when we skip a couple of days of laundry.)

The same applies here.

If your garden isn’t too large but the problem is your own discipline to keep up with it, try to establish a routine. Weed for 30 minutes every day. Put on your favorite gardening podcast (shameless plug for mine — the Beginner’s Garden Podcast) and enjoy some alone time. Truly, weeding isn’t a “chore” when I have a good podcast or music in my earbuds.

Prevent Weeds from Taking Over

Now that you have identified the most probable causes for weeds taking over your garden, what can you do about it?

Of course, the best method is prevention. Decide what kind of mulch to use and get it. If you need to till once to get an overgrown garden out of control, do it, but then cover IMMEDIATELY with mulch. (Do not add mulch on top of weeds; they will only grow through it, and that’s worse than no mulch.)

Once you add mulch, do not till again. As you keep adding mulch, year after year, you’ll notice your weed problem becoming less and less each year.

While mulching is my best suggestion, consider the other topics we discussed, like the size of your garden and your weeding routine.

By taking these steps, you’ll be better able to prevent weeds from taking over your garden!