SHIFTING ROOTS

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The Best Tools to Banish Weeds From Your Garden

July 9, 2019

Everyone hates weeds. Well, almost everyone. There will always be those people who mention how delicious and useful portulaca, plantain, and dandelions are. I get that they can be useful and have their place–but unless things get desperate, you probably won’t see me adding portulaca to my salad. However, that dandelion salve I’ve seen floating around on Pinterest does look kind of interesting. Anyway.

For those of use who hate weeds, we want to get rid of them as fast and efficiently as possible, with a minimal amount of work.

While there’s no get-out-of-jail-free card for weeds in the garden, there are some gardening methods and gardening tools that can make the job easier. I’m listing my favourite ways to remove weeds, as well as a few that my readers swear by.

Weeding your garden doesn't have to be an impossible task.  These 8 gardening tools make the chore easy--whether you have a big backyard or a small flower or vegetable garden. #weeding #gardeningtips #tools

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Avoid Weeds With the Square Foot Gardening Method

Depending on when you’re reading this, this advice might be useless to you. File this away for next year!! When you space your plants closer together and in a square grid instead of rows, there’s less space for the weeds to grow. Once the vegetables fill out, they will shade the ground, effectively making a living mulch that significantly reduces the number of weeds.

You can read more about the square foot gardening method here. I also have this handy guide on the blog to getting started with square foot gardening, plus four free templates so you know exactly what to plant.

Get 4 Free Square Foot Gardening Templates

Start your square foot garden the easy way!

You'll get 4 4x4 plans for

  • Salad Garden
  • Beginner's Garden
  • Salsa Garden
  • Kid's Garden

Plus a short 3 day email course of how to get started with square foot gardening.

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Use Mulch to Cut Down on Weeding

The best way to get rid of weeds is to make it hard for them to grow in the first place. Once my vegetables have grown to around 4-6 inches, I weed the garden well and place a mulch of grass, leaves, or shredded wood chips around my vegetables.

It may not look pretty, but it keeps out most of the weeds. The ones that do manage to grow are very easy to pull out.

You can read more about the ins and outs of mulch and how to get started in your garden in this post.

When It’s Time to Weed, Do It When The Ground Is Wet

If you’ve got a garden full of weeds to clear, you can make the job easier by weeding the day after a rain, when the ground is not saturated, but still moist. The weeds will pull out easily, and you can save yourself a lot of frustration.

Now, on to the tools!!

The Garden Claw

In my overgrown, weedy mess of a backyard, this is my tool of choice. My Garden Claw is straight out of the 90’s, but this one will work just as well.

The Garden Claw was with me when I was clearing out densely overgrown perennials and weeds, and it was especially good at popping out ferns. I’ve even worked my small vegetable garden for the spring with it. It’s also handy for working up the soil in my raised beds and mixing in compost and manure.

These days, my flower beds aren’t quite so overgrown. The Garden Claw makes quick work of the first weeding session in early spring, when most of my preferred perennials are not up and I’m trying to get rid of all the creeping bellflower.

I probably sound like an infomercial, but I love the Garden Claw that much. Get yours here, you won’t be sorry.

Handheld Dandelion Weeder

This dandelion weeder was left in our garden shed by the previous home owners and I’m so glad they left it. It’s great for getting the root of your weed (or nonsense perennial). I also find it helpful for weeding when the ground is compacted or really dry. If you’re tired of ripping the weed off by the leaves and never getting to the root of the problem, this is the weeding tool for you.

My Favourite Gardening Gloves

These are my favourite type of gardening gloves for a couple of reasons. First, I have wide and thick hands, which are hard to fit in women’s gardening gloves, but don’t fit quite right in men’s either. These gloves are stretchy, so I can finally have a decent fit.

Secondly, the silicon coating grips weeds well and prevents nicks and cuts. This means that I can still pull out the root even if the weed is a bit wet, and that I don’t have to be overly careful picking thistles.

Finally, I find that cotton gloves are easily ruined. These gloves last multiple gardening seasons for the backyard gardener. They don’t get holes easily and they aren’t ruined after coming in contact with mud.

Pick up a pair here.

Hoes with a Loop

I have never personally used this weeding tool, but I have lots of readers who swear by it. Here’s the big version for large gardens…

and the handheld version…

The handheld version is best for small urban gardens or when you need to weed around other plants in a tight space.

Best for Removing Weeds From Your Lawn

If you need to remove weeds from your lawn without killing your back, this is the tool you need. The Tacklife Weeder gets down all the way to the root. There is a bit of a learning curve in using it, but once you get it, it goes really fast.

I don’t recommend this weeder if your lawn is overrun with weeds. Even though I try not to use chemicals, I will use them in my lawn if the weeds are ridiculous. I’ve found that if you need to use chemicals, you only need to do so for one year. After that the weeds will have decreased enough that this tool can do the job.

Rototiller for Large Gardens

If you’re on an acreage, the rototiller is your friend. These days it’s more popular to lay down landscaping fabric and plant in pre-cut holes. While this is efficient and something you should absolutely strive toward, you may not have time to set that up in all of the space you have.

Until then, a rototiller is the best way to get rid of a wide swath of weeds in a hurry.

I probably wouldn’t order a rototiller off of Amazon, but I’ll still post a link so you can get an idea of what things cost. Go local with this one and see a dealer or pick up something second hand.

I’ve also used a rototiller hand tool like this one for a larger city garden that’s been planted in rows, and it works really well.

A Word About Chemicals

Organic gardening methods are ideal, especially in the vegetable garden, but sometimes the weeds reach a tipping point where it’s just impossible to get control over them.

For example, you might have a larger garden space that has been neglected and covered in weeds and grass.

If the space is small enough, you can smother the area with newspaper or cardboard, let it overwinter, plant potatoes the year after, and garden as usual the year after that.

But sometimes it’s just not possible or the space is simply too large.

In this case, you might consider using chemicals for one season, just to get a handle on the weeds. Once the weeds are dead and it’s safe to enter the area, rototill, garden as usual, and use organic weeding methods from then on.

This is what I use to get rid of weeds in the vegetable garden. . .what do you use? Tell me about your favourite tools and if you think I’m missing something that needs to be on this list.

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

1 Comment
Filed Under: Gardening Tagged: garden tools, garden weasel, weeding, Weeds

How to Keep Your Garden Alive When You’re Away on Vacation

June 29, 2018

Every gardener faces a big dilemma every summer: How do you water your garden and keep it alive when you’re on holidays?

I’m sharing my five basic steps for plant care on vacation. These tips should keep your plants alive for a max of 3 days without rain and moderate temperatures. I’ll also give you suggestions for what to do if you’re gone for longer.

Every gardener faces this dilemma at one point: How do you go on vacation without killing your vegetable garden? I'll show you how to care for and water your plants while you're away, plus give you some tips especially for the beginner. #gardening #summervacation #beginnergardener #vegetablegarden #vegetablegardening #gardeningtips #gardeningadvice #gardeningideas

 

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

6 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life, Travel Tagged: Garden, holidays, vacation, Vegetables, watering, weeding

Week 5: Yard Transformation Challenge

May 23, 2018

May Long Weekend (or the unofficial Gardening-Weekend-in-Canada as I like to call it) has come and gone and my garden is in the ground!  This week was extremely busy as I hustled to get my garden in, mow and fertilize the lawn, and cut down the overgrown nuisance trees in the yard.

Thanks again to Nat of Simple Family Crazy Life for heading up the challenge.  Click here to see the other bloggers progress.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase anything I earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.  You can read more about it in my Privacy Policy.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

While the largest chunk of my yard work is done, there’s still much to do!  Our fence-of-shame still needs fixing and I still have that side of the flower beds to weed through.  I want to order more mulch and add it around the flower beds so I don’t have to weed so much.

Here’s a little tour I did recently on Facebook:

I do a live video almost every Tuesday at 10am CST, so like and follow my Facebook page for tours, Q & A and quick garden tips.

I’m seriously in love with more about my experience here.

I also can’t believe that I fit every single flower and vegetable that I wanted to plant into my garden space.  If you haven’t tried square foot gardening and you garden in a small space, you really need to give it a try.  I’ll be following up later in the year with how all my experiments with this technique turned out.

Get 4 Free Square Foot Gardening Templates

Start your square foot garden the easy way!

You'll get 4 4x4 plans for

  • Salad Garden
  • Beginner's Garden
  • Salsa Garden
  • Kid's Garden

Plus a short 3 day email course of how to get started with square foot gardening.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

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Wondering about the upside down tomato cages?  I’m starting a new garden space and I laid cardboard down in order to kill the grass.  Unfortunately, the tomato cages can’t pierce through that ground.  Wish me luck!

Even though my garden is nowhere near perfect, I’m in awe of the transformation over the last three years.  We started with a rundown mess of a yard, and are slowly but surely making it our own.

That’s it for this week!  Next week I hope to take some glamorous pictures of the yard and share the final results with you.

Have you ever conquered an overgrown mess of a yard?  Tell me all about it!  (Please, I need to feel like I’m not the only one!!)

Get 4 Free Square Foot Gardening Templates

Start your square foot garden the easy way!

You'll get 4 4x4 plans for

  • Salad Garden
  • Beginner's Garden
  • Salsa Garden
  • Kid's Garden

Plus a short 3 day email course of how to get started with square foot gardening.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

 

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

2 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Gardening, May long weekend, planting, weeding, yard transformation

Backyard Progress 2017 and the Beginnings of Urban Gardening

June 1, 2017

Last weekend was the unofficial gardening weekend in Canada (otherwise known as May Long Weekend) and our household was no exception to the trend.  However, there was one little problem. . . the wilderness we call our backyard and garden space.

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

10 Comments
Filed Under: 1929 house, DIY, Gardening, Makeover, Outdoor Life, Projects, Renovation Tagged: Backyard, DIY, firepit, Garden, garden bed, garden box, Gardening, Makeover, rototilling, urban gardening, weeding, Weeds

The State of the Backyard 2017 Edition

May 8, 2017

When we bought the current house we’re in, it was winter and our showing was at night.  In those conditions everything seemed maybe a bit overgrown, but fine.  How wrong we were.

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

7 Comments
Filed Under: 1929 house, Backyard Florist, Ermagerd, Gardening, Home Tour, Outdoor Life Tagged: Backyard, ferns, Gardening, Outdoors, Overgrowth, peonies, perennials, soil prep, weeding

Grow roots with us

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

Recent Posts

  • How to Grow Eucalyptus for Cut Flowers (Even in a Short Growing Season!)
  • 26 Best Flowers to Grow for Dried Flower Arrangements
  • 17 Perennial Flowers That Love Shade
  • How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
  • How to Start a Cut Flower Garden

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Connect with Shifting Roots On. . .

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Find What You’re Looking For. . .

Privacy Policy

Got the seed starting itch? There's some things y Got the seed starting itch?  There's some things you can actually seed start now and you won't end up with crazy leggy seedlings and endless problems.  In fact, these plants require that you start now, and need to be started in zone 3 by the end of February at the absolute latest.⁠
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I've already started some lisianthus and eucalyptus, and am waiting on my seed orders to start some more.⁠
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If you're starting a luffa sponge, make sure you have some sort of eventual plan for the vine.  last year mine went over my fall windows before I was able to take them outdoors.⁠
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P.S. I've actually never started onions from seed, so if anyone wants to chin in about their experience, feel free!
Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year? Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year?  A new post is on the blog to walk you through it.  While in theory eucalyptus is easy to grow, it's challenging in my zone 3 garden for three reasons: ⁠
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➡️It needs a long time to mature⁠
➡️I have a short growing season⁠
➡️I live in a cool climate, and eucalyptus grows better when its warm.⁠
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That said, you can see by this picture that it can be done!!⁠
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Are you growing eucalyptus this year?
Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums up how this last week went, I think it's this one.  Babies crying, trying to stay calm, outwardly looking like it's all under control, but feeling very overwhelmed.⁠
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This post isn't gardening related, so feel free to scroll by if you're here only for the gardening content.⁠
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Thankfully it's January, and I keep reminding myself that the Internet will not break if I don't keep to my self-imposed posting schedule.  But it doesn't make a week full of teething-and-not-sleeping baby any easier. ⁠
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Felicity slept through the night for the first time ever last Monday, then proceeded to punish us with frequent wakings and terrible sleep until Saturday.  And as tough as this is in regular times, in Covid times its extra frustrating because I don't have my village.⁠
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I can't just call up another Mama friend and go for coffee at her house.  I can't take my son out for a Mommy-and-Dominic date because everything he'd want to do isn't really much of an option.  There's no playgroup or play place to just drop in on.  And forget just taking everybody out to get groceries just for a change of scenery.⁠
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I know people have way more serious problems than this, and I hope I don't sound whiny and entitled, it's not my intention.  Please know that I'm very grateful for my family and job and that so far we've been healthy. ⁠
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A lot of you who follow me do so in part because you are also juggling life with very little people through this strange time.  I hope that in occasionally sharing my struggles, it makes you feel better about your struggles. (You're struggling too sometimes. . . right?)
Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
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I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
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If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
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P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
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