One of everyone’s least favorite chores in the vegetable garden is weeding. It’s also a chore that if delayed, only gets harder. I’ve selected a series of videos that help you plan your weeding strategies so you don’t have a weedy mess come mid-summer. These videos cover a variety of weed control techniques including barriers, mulches, flame weeders, and hand tools. There’s even a video on edible weeds and growing them.

So roll up your sleeves, don your garden hat and sunscreen and don’t get frustrated by your weeds. Doing a little weeding each day goes a long way towards keeping your garden growing strong.

Videos selected and described by Charlie Nardozzi, edibles Editor of Good Gardening Videos.

Mulch as Weed Control

“Easy Weeding: How to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Vegetable Garden” by GrowVeg. A good basic, English video on why weeds are a problem in the garden and a number of good approaches to controlling weeds, including some prevention techniques. He breaks weeds down into the different types and shows how to control each one.

“Stop Weeding the Garden“ by Patrick Dolan at One Yard Revolution.  Patrick shows how using cardboard and wood chips has reduced weeding to a minimum in his garden.

(In a related video, “Does Mulch Attract Slugs to the Garden?“, Patrick explains how he has fewer slugs now that he mulches heavily, and cites research by the Garden Professors indicating that ground beetles and other insects living in the mulch prey on slugs.)

“Cardboard Mulch Experiment to Keep Weeds Down“ by Stephen Legaree of Alberta Urban Garden. Steven uses small cardboard pieces to sheet-mulch around peppers and other older plants to reduce weeding in an established vegetable garden. While he starts the video talking about drip irrigation, he gets into the cardboard barriers around 1:30.

“Honest Truth about Weed-Free Gardening”  by Luke Marion of MIgardener. Luke explains that no garden is absolutely weed-free and changing your attitude is the first step in understanding weeds. He then explains how to have fewer weeds over time using mulch to keep weeds from growing.

(In a related video, Luke explains “How We Keep Creeping Charlie Weed Under Control Organically“ also using mulch as an ally.)

“Using Hay and Grass as Mulch to Grow Food” by Huw Richards at Huw’s Nursery.  In this Welsh video, Huw shows how to use hay to mulch the garden and also how to deal with the grass seed that comes with using hay.

“How to  Make a No-Till Garden” by Joe Lamp’l for Milorganite Fertilizer. Joe talks about the benefits of no-till gardening, then shows how to mulch using the sheet-mulching or lasagna gardening method to keep weeds at bay. He uses cardboard, newspaper, compost and fertilizer to create a no-till garden.

“5 Weeds in Every Garden that are actually Edible and Delicious” by Luke Marion, the MIgardener. Luke identifies 5 common edible weeds that are growing, and you can grow, in your garden. These include dandelions, Vietnamese coriander, purslane, lamb’s quarters, and amaranth. He covers when to harvest for the best flavor.

Weeding Tools 

“How to Pick the Right Tool for Weeding“ by New Mexico State University. New Mexico Extension Agent talks to a tool expert about the different tools you need for different conditions in the garden. Some of the long-and short-handled tools they cover are wing hoe, raker, stirrup hoe and pointed hoe.

“Wheel Hoes for Weeding“ by  GrowOrganic Peaceful Valley. Tricia reviews the various types of wheel hoes available for home gardeners. Wheel hoes are great for gardeners with large gardens who don’t want to use a tiller or tractor. Wheel hoes have attachments to help with various gardening tasks.

“How to Use Johnny’s Colliniear Hoe“ by Eliot Coleman for Johnny’s Seeds. Eliot shows how to quickly and efficiently use a collinear hoe to weed a bed of lettuce.

(In a related video, “Tilther Demonstration with Adam Lemieux,“ Johnny’s Seeds shows how to use a Tilther to mix soil amendments and till up a new bed. This tool was designed by Eliot Coleman using a power drill for power, so it makes little noise and has no carbon emissions.)

“Flame-Weeding your Garden“ by  Dave Epstein of Growing Wisdom. Dave is at Johnny’s Seeds in Maine for a demonstration of how to use a backpack flame weeder to kill weeds in the garden.

“The Ninja Flame Weeder” by Urban Farmer Curtis Stone  in British Columbia.  Curtis talks about why he flame-weeds and how to use the portable Ninja Weeder to spot kill young weeds in the garden.