7 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Weeds from Your Vegetable Garden Forever

When dealing with weeds in your vegetable garden, you must be careful with the methods you use so as not to harm the plants you want to keep, but also to remove any nutrient-sucking sprouts from the soil.

We spoke to a gardening expert to find out the best tips for preventing weeds from invading your vegetable garden.

Is it possible to have no weeds in your garden?

While a weed-free space is always a gardener’s dream, “it’s never possible to keep your garden 100 percent weed-free,” Warner says. “But it’s certainly possible to limit the number of weeds that grow in your garden beds.”

Weeds need what your garden plants need: soil, sunlight, and water. So there is no way to completely eliminate weeds from your lawn. However, there are preventative measures you can take in your vegetable garden to keep weeds from growing too often without harming what you are growing.

7 Easy Ways to Keep Weeds Out of Your Vegetable Garden

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Mulch is a great weed prevention tool to use in the vegetable garden because it blocks the sunlight and heat that weeds need to grow.

“Untreated wood chips and straw work very well to suppress weeds,” says Warner. “I like to use these products in walkways, flower beds, and around my lilacs.”

Put a tarp down

Who would have thought that a $6 tarp you can pick up at your local home improvement store could be so useful for keeping weeds out of your vegetable garden? According to Warner, it’s a tried-and-true method that she uses year-round.

“I like to use mulch over my growing space to control weeds. It kills overgrown weeds, adds organic matter to the soil, keeps the soil from eroding, and prepares the space for planting,” Warner says. She recommends using sandbags, bricks, or logs to cover the mulch close to the ground and keep sunlight to a minimum.

Using a garden knife

One of the best ways to prevent weeds is to stop them before their roots grow much larger by digging them up by hand. Warner suggests using a hori hori or garden knife to help dig up weeds by the roots and chop them up.

Bring out a hoe with a treadle

If digging up weeds by hand puts unbearable strain on your back, Warner says a treadle hoe is a great tool for weeding. It pulls weeds out of the soil with minimal disruption to your garden.

“For my garden beds, which are about 18 inches apart, this is the perfect tool to use because I can weed around each plant easily without any interruption,” Warner says. She says it’s especially helpful for preventing back and knee pain while working.

Place cardboard

Yes, you read that right. Cardboard is a great recycled material to use for weed prevention purposes in your garden beds because it acts as another barrier that blocks out sunlight and keeps weeds at bay.

“Start by removing all the tape and stickers from the cardboard and placing it over the area you want to remove weeds from, and water it heavily to set the cardboard in place,” says Warner. “Go over it a few times to help it set.” This is an ideal short-term solution.

Use cover crops

Sometimes the best weed control measure is to plant cover crops.

“Legumes, clover, grasses or winter cover crops are all great year round,” says Warner. “These help compete with weeds while adding organic matter, nitrogen, aeration, water retention, and some can attract pollinators.”

Apply white vinegar

White vinegar is another natural method that works effectively to kill weeds, but there are a few things you should know before using it.

The most important thing to know is that it only kills the exposed part of the plant it comes into contact with, so it is best used on new, tender weeds. Also, be extremely careful when using this method as a weed killer. If white vinegar comes into contact with a plant you want to keep, it could accidentally kill it.

How to choose a weed control method

We all have our own preferences when it comes to how to deal with weeds around the house, but some methods are better left for areas other than the garden bed. When looking for a reliable weed preventative, here are some things to consider.

Do you want something organic? It is always best to try and use organic materials as they are more sustainable and kinder to your vegetable garden. Some non-organic weed suppressants contain materials that can kill the vegetables you want to harvest.

Do you want to do manual work? Although weeding by hand is very effective, it can be tiring. If you can’t pull weeds without getting stressed or exhausted, consider solutions like vinegar or cardboard.

How to Prevent Weeds in Your Vegetable Garden

The best way to prevent weeds from taking over your vegetable garden is to control them, if possible, in the pre-emergent stage or use a garden-friendly weed preventer like mulch. Mulch is one of the best weed preventers for vegetable gardens because it retains the moisture in the soil that plants need to grow while also blocking the soil so weeds don’t germinate.