Weed overwhelm can befall even the most experienced gardeners. In this week’s encore presentation, New York Times gardening columnist and “A Way to Garden” podcast host Margaret Roach joins me to explore how to keep weeds from taking over with a practical, organic approach that delivers real results. By combining a little good old-fashioned research with a touch of mindfulness, Margaret demonstrates how gardeners can tackle this age-old challenge more effectively — and maybe even achieve Zen Weed Master status along the way.
Margaret is a renowned garden writer and podcaster who in 2024 received the prestigious Scott Medal from the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She’s also a former executive vice president and editorial director for Martha Stewart Living and a talented garden photographer.
Margaret Roach of “A Way to Garden” is the gardening columnist for The New York Times. (photo: Erica Berger)
Margaret lives on a 2.3-acre property in upstate New York that she manages largely on her own. Out of necessity and determination, she has mastered the art of accomplishing much with less effort.
Read on for a quick recap of our conversation and Margaret’s advice, or head to the original show notes for the unabridged version.
Act Intentionally
Margaret and I both actually enjoy weeding. There’s something about rhythmically moving from space to space, clearing away those unwanted plants that are syphoning resources from our gardens, that is meditative and satisfying. You might love it, or you might loathe it. Either way, it doesn’t take long for things to get out of control — even for the experts.
Gardeners tend to be action-oriented. We rush from project to project — planting, snipping, weeding, worrying, deadheading, mowing — the “ing” list goes on and on. Oftentimes, we whiz past a budding problem in our haste to get to the next thing on our list.
Margaret’s first piece of weed wisdom is that you break that habit and slow things down a bit. When you intentionally make time to observe what’s happening, you’re able to notice the little things before they become seemingly insurmountable problems. A pause as you move from here to there can be an opportunity to catch a weed in its early stages, while it’s much easier to address.
Weeding is a challenge that can seem overwhelming unless you approach it in the right way.
Learn to Recognize Weeds
Margaret shares in her column, In the Garden, this sage piece of advice: Wise gardeners understand that we can’t successfully fight an opponent that we can’t identify.
Like an Army general, she has studied her weed enemies very carefully — looking for the best opportunities to beat them before they advance.
Like all pests, weeds have evolved to be successful. Each has developed different survival mechanisms. Learn which weeds are finding their way into your landscape, and get to know more than just their name. Margaret compares them to heirloom plants — each weed has a history that might hold helpful clues. How each variety grows and reproduces matters, because those qualities are your roadmap to overcoming that type of weed.
Does the weed have a large taproot, rhizomes or roots that are shallow and fibrous? Knowing the answer to that question will help you understand which weeds can be pulled out versus which weeds you’ll need to dig up or thoroughly excavate to stop them from coming back and spreading.
Does the weed spread seeds or have allelopathic qualities? If so, your timing for removal is key.
The UC Davis, University of Minnesota, and University of Missouri websites all offer good online weed identification tools. These resources walk you through specific questions to help you narrow down the list of suspects until you’re able to determine what you’re dealing with.
You’ll also be much better off if you learn to identify what your area’s weeds look like at various stages. By the time a weed fully matures, it probably has already gained a solid foothold. Beat it to the punch by becoming familiar with how to spot the weed seedlings among your other plants. Margaret loves using the University of Chicago Press book, “Weeds of North America,” for just that. The book doesn’t include every species for our continent, but of those it does include, there are pictures showing every life stage.
If all else fails, you can upload a picture of the weed in question to the iNaturalist app. Just remember to take any crowd-sourced information with a grain of salt. Glean what seems useful, but verify its accuracy.
Garlic mustard is best tackled as early as possible, so it doesn’t have the opportunity to affect germination of other plants in the area. (photo: Margaret Roach)
Margaret’s Top Three Thug Weeds
Mugwort – This weed has a rhizomatous root system. If even a tiny piece of the rhizome is left behind in the soil, it will generate a new plant. The same is true of any rhizomatous weed species. When you know that every piece of rhizome left in the soil is a future weed, you realize it’s worth a few extra minutes to remove as much as possible. It will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Margaret has found that the best approach for these types is to gently loosen up the soil all around the roots, so the entire system can be teased out without breaking into irretrievable pieces.
Oriental bittersweet – This invasive woody vine spreads by seed and strangles and kills shrubs and trees. Once established, it’s a beast to eradicate. Margaret has learned that this is an enemy best defeated at the earliest stages of growth. Birds eat the orange fruit the vine produces and carry the seeds in their bellies until they leave their “deposit” in your landscape. Three times each year — early spring, mid-summer and fall — Margaret designates a specific time to go on “bittersweet patrol” seeking out young Oriental bittersweet seedlings.
By pulling the young seedlings, Margaret is saving herself from having to tackle tough mature vines (and more seed-bearing fruit) in seasons to come.
Garlic mustard – This is one of those pesky allelopathic weeds. It exudes a chemical through the soil, preventing germination of other plants. In other words, the plants you want are hindered from ever getting started. Garlic mustard also flowers and sets seed — which can remain viable in the soil for more than a decade. Margaret doesn’t allow it time to set flower.
Bittersweet becomes more exponentially more difficult to remove and eradicate the longer it grows. (photo: Margaret Roach)
Remain Focused
Once you’ve gotten to know your weeds, try keeping your efforts focused for an afternoon — or even just 30 minutes — on just one priority. You’ll feel better about your progress at the end of the day.
I’ll admit that when I’m weeding a bed, it can be so easy to get distracted by a shrub branch I notice needs pruning or a bare spot needing some fresh mulch. Yet, I’ve learned over the years that a do-everything-at-once approach leaves me feeling like I never really made any headway at all. These days, I make a point to assign myself pruning time, weeding time, etc; and I focus that time on that particular task.
While on “bittersweet patrol” Margaret will remove other weed varieties she comes across, but she keeps herself focused on attacking Oriental bittersweet as the priority. The same is true when she goes on springtime garlic mustard patrol or sets her sights on any other one task for a day.
Since we don’t allow ourselves to deviate from our goal, we accomplish more of what we set out to do. That focused approach keeps overwhelm at bay.
For easier weeding, work the day after a rain or work after watering, when moist soil lets roots pull out more cleanly. Avoid weeding in dry soil, where roots are more likely to break off and regrow.
The lower leaves of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) look like a chrysanthemum leaves but are silvery on their undersides. (photo: Margaret Roach)
Can Weeds Be Composted?
Can weeds go in the compost? It depends. Avoid composting diseased weeds or those that have gone to seed, especially in passive compost systems that may not get hot enough to destroy pathogens or seeds.
Margaret also keeps rhizomatous weeds out of the pile. Instead, she seals them in a plastic bag and leaves it in the sun until the heat kills the plant tissue and any viable seeds. For other weeds, she removes seed heads and roots before composting the remaining plant material.
Ultimately, your approach depends on the weed, your composting method, and your tolerance for risk.
One final reminder: no garden is completely weed-free. Gardening is an ongoing process of learning and improving, and embracing that imperfection is part of what makes it so rewarding.
Galinsoga ciliata, sometimes called gallant soldier, is an annual weed that must not be allowed to flower and set seed, or else. (photo: Margaret Roach)
If you haven’t listened to my conversation with Margaret Roach on preventing weed overwhelm, you can do so now by clicking the Play button on the green bar near the top of this post.
How do you prevent weed overwhelm? Let us know in the comments below.
