A good harvest without digging the earth, weeding, watering and fertilizing.

Appear in the garden earlier than the first cultivated plants: parsley, dill, radishes, etc.

Weeds reproduce, grow, and ripen faster than cultivated plants, drawing nutrients and useful material.

It is necessary to weed the garden as often as possible, otherwise if you miss the moment when the seeds ripen and are blown away by the wind, you will have to fight not just one weed, but many. Although destroying weeds takes a lot of time and effort, it is necessary to constantly do this, otherwise they will fill all the available land, which will subsequently lead to the death of cultivated plants and only unnecessary weeds will remain in the garden.

When weeding the garden, you should also remember that weeds must be destroyed in the garden, between adjacent buildings, along the border of the site, otherwise their seeds will be transferred to the garden with gusts of wind, water streams, on people's clothing, animal fur.

In preparation for winter, you should perform no-moldboard tillage, thanks to which the seeds rise to the surface, where they will be destroyed by late autumn or early spring frosts.

Plowing and digging up the ground is not recommended, since the seeds are distributed throughout the garden, and if they do not germinate immediately, they may have to wait for a favorable time: the duration of their stay in this state is 20 years or more.

How to weed beds correctly

Basic rules for weeding:

✓ it is necessary to pull out weeds before they have developed a powerful root system;

✓ after weeding, it is necessary to remove all parts of the weeds;

✓ it is better to weed after rain, as plant roots are easily pulled out of the wet soil.

If weeds appear between the seedling bushes, it is recommended to pull them out by hand so as not to damage the still immature parts of the plants.

You can loosen between the beds with a hoe.

Using mulch reduces the spread of weeds.

It is recommended to immediately plant something on a dug up piece of land. If there is no intention to plant in the near future cultivated plants, then you can plant the area with green manure plants (lupine, beans, lentils, rapeseed, rapeseed, wheat, swarming). They do not have nutritional value, but they protect the soil from weeds and will subsequently become a good fertilizer.

How to Apply Foliar Herbicides

Herbicides are used for chemical destruction weeds. They are divided into two types: continuous action - they destroy all plants; selective action - destroy certain types of plants. In the garden, it is recommended to use the second type of new generation herbicides—foliar herbicides.

Foliar herbicides do not work through the soil like old-generation herbicides, which poison the entire treated area, including cultivated plants, but through leaves and stems, then the drug is spread throughout the entire plant without affecting nearby ones. As it spreads, the drug blocks the photosynthesis processes occurring in the plant, which leads to its wilting.

Foliar herbicides are broad-spectrum preparations, i.e. they can affect not only a specific group of plants, but most of them. Herbicides can be used either in full dosage or in diluted form, “even in this state they are able to limit the number of weeds, reducing the formation of seeds and reducing their germination.

Currently exists a large number of varieties of herbicidal foliar preparations (Roundup, Accord, Glysol, Glytan, Glyphos, Glycel, Rodeo, Hurricane, Forsat), but they all have in common the substance glyphosate.

Glyphosate is used as a continuous systemic herbicide. Usually used to combat creeping wheatgrass, pigweed, cattail, bindweed, reed, and thistle.

The drug penetrates the plant in 2-3 hours, symptoms appear within a week, complete death of the plant occurs after 2-3 weeks, depending on weather conditions.

In the soil, the drug decomposes within a month, without causing further harm to other plants.

Glyphosate is harmless to bees and animals, and is not toxic to fish. But although the drug is low-toxic, contact with the mucous membrane of the eyes should be avoided.

The shelf life of such drugs is 1 year from the date of manufacture. It should be stored at a temperature from +10 to 40 °C, since when frozen, the drug loses its properties.

The drugs are sold either in canisters of 10 and 20 liters, or in bottles of 50-125 ml.

We would like to remind you that herbicides are chemical substances, therefore, when working with them, you should follow safety rules. Recommended to use individual means protection. For the body - thick clothes with long sleeves, for the arms - latex gloves, for the respiratory system - respirators, for the eyes - goggles. While working with the drug and treating the area, you should not smoke, drink, or eat. After finishing treating the area and putting the drug in the designated place, you must thoroughly wash your face and hands with soap and water.

Some weeds can be used not only for medicinal purposes, but also for consumption (although people mainly perceive them as animal feed). Thanks to weeds, you can diversify your diet by adding these plants to various dishes. And if you find yourself in extreme situation If you get lost in the forest, you will not die of hunger if you know which plants are edible and how to process them correctly.

Snooze. Application

The gooseberry grows virtually everywhere, many have seen it, but few have eaten it, although beneficial properties it is not inferior to nettles.

Dreamweed contains a lot of salts of iron, boron, and manganese. The plant helps with inflammation, kidney disease, liver disease, anemia, vitamin deficiency, heals wounds, and generally has a beneficial effect on maintaining the immune system.

Young spring leaves, light green, shiny, without any aftertaste, are more suitable for eating. However, the leaves can be consumed throughout the summer.

During the war, people collected squash and cooked borscht, stews, and simply stewed it.

In cabbage soup, cabbage replaces cabbage, but with one small clarification - it is added at the end of cooking.

You can stew squash with potatoes. Separately stew potatoes, potatoes and onions, then combine everything and add tomato juice or pasta. The dish is ready.

The plant can be added to any dish, from appetizers and salads to first and second courses.

Burdock. Application

Burdock is a very common plant.

Its leaves contain a large amount of vitamin C (up to 350%), the roots contain the polysaccharide inulin (up to 45%), protein (up to 12%), fat-like substances, palmitic and stearic acids, as well as about 1.2% copper, up to 6% titanium, 6.4% boron, 3.8% manganese, 7.5% strontium, 0.6% zinc, 3.7% tin, 0.5% vanadium, and iron - up to 35%.

Burdock is grown as a cultivated plant in France, Belgium, the USA, and China. In Japan, burdock is grown on an industrial scale.

Burdock can replace carrots, parsley, and parsnips. The roots of burdock of the first year resemble in appearance sugar beets, so juicy, pleasant to the taste, slightly sweet.

Burdock roots can be consumed raw in the first year. The roots can also be baked and fried, which creates a sweet golden brown crust.

Young green burdock leaves can be added to salads and first courses, such as green cabbage soup.

Quinoa. Application

Quinoa is a plant that has long been consumed as food, mainly its green-leaved species. When harvesting quinoa, you need to make sure that there is a powdery coating on the underside of the leaves, otherwise the species may be bitter in taste and poisonous. Quinoa contains a lot of protein, so when you eat it, you feel full.

In Russia, quinoa was used in various dishes. The leaves were used to prepare stews and cabbage soup.

Young quinoa leaves were fermented and pickled instead of cabbage. Porridges were prepared from the peeled seeds, and they were also ground and the resulting flour was added when baking bread. Bread became more nutritious, baked better, was stored longer and did not go stale.

Nettle. Application

Nettle contains a large amount of vitamins. The leaves contain 200-400 ml of vitamin C, as well as B vitamins.

30 g of nettle contains so many vitamins A and C that their amount is enough to meet a person’s daily needs. Up to 40 mg of iron, 1.3 mg of copper, 8.2 mg of manganese, boron, and titanium were found in its leaves.

In medicine, nettle juice is used as a hemostatic agent.

Nettle is also believed to help with colds and rheumatism.

Young spring nettles are used as food for preparing salads, soups, and cabbage soup, both separately and in a mixture of herbs.

Creeping wheatgrass. Application

Everyone knows wheatgrass, everyone gardener is constantly fighting with it, but few people know that it can be eaten.

Dishes made from wheatgrass roots have pleasant taste qualities and you won’t have to get used to its taste.

Wheatgrass roots contain ascorbic acid, carotene, organic acids, fatty oil and other substances, and in dried roots - protein, 30-40% sugars.

In ancient times, flour was ground from dry wheatgrass roots and baked into delicious healthy bread. Salads were prepared from fresh rhizomes, soups were made, and side dishes were made for vegetables.

Our experience. About whether it is necessary to pull out all the grass in the garden.

We once had a crumbling dacha. So, for the sake of utility, we bought a hut. To have your own. My husband fixed the stove, and the whole family sat on the stove and slept.

The children were small and small; you couldn’t really make a living from the market. I wanted my own, real garden, so that fresh air live more.

The hut was very bad, but the garden was huge, we didn’t have time to cultivate it in time. More than a hundred kilometers from Kyiv. With kids you don't often run into each other.

One summer it turned out that they planted a lot of everything. As luck would have it, the summer turned out to be hot, the weeds were spreading, killing blue-eyed potatoes, onions and garlic, and other plantings. We weeded out everything we had enough time and energy for, and went home.

We came again when everything was well overgrown. Everyone’s gardens are clean, but ours is a riot of greenery. Let's put things in order in the garden again. We are tired, of course, but happy. The neighbors, seeing that we have a lot of kids, constantly give us whatever treats they can.

The garden makes us happy too. We brew tea with currant and raspberry leaves, eat it, and start digging up the potatoes. We cook porridge from pumpkin. And most of all, zucchini and cucumbers were used. Sweet cucumbers! There are many big ones, and the little ones grow together.

I was especially happy with the large cucumbers. The small ones are good for rolling, but I like to eat the big ones fresh, they each have their own taste and aroma. And the girls liked to clean them and eat them “from the belly.” We eat for ourselves, rejoice, work, live freely.

A little later we suddenly learn that we are the only ones who are the darlings of fate. The whole village's melons were scorched by the sun. The gardens are large, where can you get enough water for irrigation?

All the villagers weeded out the weeds, but we didn’t have time. So we grew cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkin, hiding under the weeds. The grass has gone high, but they are going down. And even sweet cucumbers, as if someone had watered them without us.

The villagers were all amazed - how could this be? Then they started going on an excursion. When we were leaving, our neighbor walked them around our garden with a stitch and showed them the harvest. But the biggest surprise was the huge pumpkins.

Because of them, my husband had to drive a cargo scooter into the garden. Some of them could only be lifted by the two of us, but one was lifted by “the whole world.” Then for a whole year they cooked porridge and made pumpkin dough for pies.

The pies and pancakes turn out bright, yellow, like the sun. I'll post the recipes later. Come visit, I’ll share.

You too should think about how to weed the garden and whether it is necessary to pull out all the grass. Perhaps in a hot summer, when there is no rain for a long time, it is useful to leave it a little so that the vegetables do not burn under scorching sun. What do you think?

Video: Weed control

1. Agricultural technology of natural farming. Weed control.
2. How to get rid of weeds forever in your country house.
3. What do cucumbers like in cool summers?
4. How to grow watermelons and melons in the Middle Zone.
5. Cucumbers in a garden in the middle zone.
6. How to enjoy working in the garden.
7. Organic farming. Processing without chemicals.
8. Cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, watermelons. Benefit. Growing. Varieties. Green manure.

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There are 34 comments on the post “How to weed in the garden in a hot summer without rain”

There was a time when we had our own hacienda. I don’t remember the details, but something similar happened with us. We didn’t come often and not for long. The plot was forty acres; only the most important things had to be done.

1. Yes, it’s cool, but weeds still greatly deplete the soil, so it’s better not to overuse such experiments from year to year, since the soil also has its own wear resistance...

2. We also have a dacha, I really like to tinker there and we remove weeds just as you described, although here in the Urals, not like you have near Kiev, there is no particular heat, but you can’t compare your homemade cucumbers and tomatoes with store-bought ones.

3. Yes, it’s true, it turned out as it should. You write that it’s as if someone was watering. So the dew fell on the grass. It helped preserve the vegetables. And the grass was protected from direct sun.

4. I can agree that weeds can protect from the sun. But this applies to crops that grow on top. But what about carrots, beets and potatoes? After all, if the weeds grow, their roots will simply crush our cultivated plants. well in best case scenario, they will be clumsy.
   So, before leaving weeds, you need to think carefully.

5. Irina! Here for me it’s not about the weeds themselves, I really liked your presentation itself. How you survive resonates with me because I have experienced all of this myself, throughout my life. Young people may no longer perceive this. It might be good. The children are already living better lives.

6. Cool article! I read it with pleasure because I live in the countryside - an estate of 17 acres. I struggle with the grass, but it turns out - why? It even became interesting - where it is needed and where it is not. Thank you.

There are a lot of debates on the topic of weeding or not weeding beds. Some gardeners claim that best harvest they received from those beds that were not weeded. And others argued that as soon as they weeded, the vegetables began to grow, and they grew better than those that were not weeded. Who is right?

In fact, we need to start with what cultures we are talking about. What exactly are we going to weed or not weed.

Let's say greens: leaf salad, dill, parsley from seeds, as well as sowing and sprouting of vegetables: beets, carrots, radishes, you need to weed, otherwise powerful weeds will kill them. The only weed that does not need to be weeded is woodlice; the roots are weak, the plant is not tall, does not pose any threat, but at the same time it shades the seedlings, restrains the evaporation of moisture, protecting the soil from drying out.

Woodlice is not a competitor to vegetables, especially ones like cabbage. But there is a benefit from it - it supports optimal humidity on the soil surface, maintaining conditions for the proliferation of soil-forming microorganisms.

All other weeds are suppressed vegetable crops, and weeding them is labor-intensive - to uproot clover, plantain, dandelion or cereals, you need to put in a lot of effort. In addition, weeding will not save us from new growth; other weeds immediately grow to replace the weeds pulled out of the ground, and some are so invasive that any breakage of the roots leads to greater reproduction weeds - this applies to wheatgrass or dandelion. If you pull out such weeds, then do it in the most careful way, sifting the soil and picking out all the roots.

That's why correct solution, this is not weeding, pulling weeds out of the ground, but simply cutting them off. You can leave them immediately lying on the beds as mulch. You need to cut weeds systematically, regularly, so that they do not grow above 5 cm, and, of course, do not allow them to bloom, when the seeds fall off and scatter throughout the garden.

For cutting weeds, it is most convenient to use the Fokina flat cutter, which is simple in design and operation. Ideally, weeds should be cut by burying the flat cutter 2-3 cm into the ground to trim the roots. In this case, the flat cutter must be sharp, otherwise it will be quite difficult to go through the roots in the soil layer. A flat cutter is good at removing overgrown raspberries. But stronger stone fruits, for example, plums, are too tough for him. These need to be weeded more deeply, tearing out powerful roots.

Before you dump the weeds in compost heap, remember if you came across any sow thistle or wheatgrass.

You can not weed the weeds, but shave them off the surface of the ground. This is done with a hand scythe, a loop flat cutter or a sharpened Fokin flat cutter.

Weeds shaved above the ground with a flat cutter grow back faster, but when the mulch of them forms a dense layer, further growth weed control is greatly slowed down.

If your area is heavily overgrown with weeds, do not rush to grab a hoe or flat cutter. The roots of regrown weeds are already powerful; in order to spend less effort fighting weeds, it is better to use this method: first trim the area overgrown with turf with a trimmer, then walk along the ground with a hoe to cut off the most strong roots, and then again with a flat cutter.

There are different types of hoes, in this case, you need to use weeding hoes or a flat-cutter hoe.

Fokina flat cutter reviews

Let's return to the popular weeding tool - the Fokin flat cutter. It is very common among gardeners. In order not to be subjective, I tried to conduct a survey in my gardening society and convey to the reader a generalized experience of weeding the garden. For us - pensioners - this is a painful question, but for young people it’s frankly boring - at the dacha we want to relax, and not sunbathe our butts.

Therefore, I will quote more detailed reviews:

I have two Fokin flat cutters - with a long handle and a short one. I never dig up the soil according to Kurdyumov, but as soon as weeds appear in the spring, I cut it off with a long flat cutter. When I’m small, I loosen the soil and plant the beds when the vegetable plantings are already growing. But until the carrots have sprouted, I weed the weeds by hand (Z.I. Kukushkina).

I bought a Fokina flat cutter two years ago, now I wonder how I lived without it. But I didn’t adapt right away. The first time I came to a neglected garden: knee-deep weeds, both carrots and beets were killed (I haven’t been in the garden for 2 weeks due to illness). I started cutting it with a flat cutter, but it also ruined the vegetables; it is very difficult to use the tool among the regrown grass. She spat and started doing it the old fashioned way - wearing cloth gloves and tearing everything out by the roots. I put the weeds in a barrel for fertilizer. There were clean ridges left. A week later I arrived - the ground above was clean, but young weeds were already visible here and there. This is where the flat cutter came in handy. There is no need to bend over, the handle is long, you cut it underground and that’s it. The earth remains clean, there is no mulch, but the beds are fresh. And so every visit to the dacha! In good weather, you can loosen once every 3-4 days. It can't even be called weeding. Just fly once, and then just keep the soil in a “clean” state (Alevtina Ivanovna Vorozheikina).

It is especially convenient to cut dandelion, plantain, and nettle with a flat cutter, and quinoa is so easily pulled out by the roots. I sent my teenage grandson to chop the nettles behind the bathhouse; there is no garden there, but the nettle thickets are of no use to us. He had not yet reached the point of scythe, but he managed it with a flat cutter (G.M. Filichkina).

Also for a long time with a flat cutter. I dig the ground under the potatoes, the weeds grow quickly on the loose soil. To avoid overgrowing, I run over the entire area once a week to prevent weeds from growing back. Hilling up potatoes is not very convenient - the working surface is small, but if you systematically loosen it with Fokin, then there will be no problems with hilling (A.P. Popov).

It is convenient to use a flat cutter to keep your back straight. I mow it with long flat cutters, but not underground, the earth is a bit heavy, but just above the surface, I leave it on the ridge. After harvesting, I plant green manure and mow it with a scythe in the fall. Where a scythe is needed, a flat cutter is ineffective (A.P. Golubov).

My wife couldn’t get used to working with a flat cutter. I am comfortable. But it must be explained that you need to work with a flat cutter like a scythe only underground - moving along the surface of the earth, and not from top to bottom like a hoe. If the weeds are powerful, you need effort, but not everyone succeeds. And if it’s deeper, then the weeds won’t grow back soon. Do not forget to sharpen the flat cutter on time (V.A. Shabalin).

You need to weed as soon as the weeds grow, the longer you wait and put it off, the harder it is with any tool. Do not confuse a flat cutter with a hoe, if the soil is dense, clayey, or an overgrown area, the Fokina flat cutter is not a helper. But on loose, sandy or peat soil, not overgrown with weeds, it’s a nice thing. I spend 30 minutes cutting weeds. I don’t like tops in garden beds, and my wife doesn’t like this kind of mulch; there are other materials for that. If there is a lot of tops and it rains, the grass will rot in the ridges. Therefore, after the flat cutter, I collect the weeds with a rake (E.E. Muzitsky).

I just started working with a flat cutter. My impressions: it’s difficult in the beds; it was not possible to process the plantings of lettuce, radishes and carrots with a flat cutter - very slowly, so as not to injure the greens and vegetables, or cut off the necessary roots. And on the inter-rows and in potatoes - just excellent (Marina Lyvina).

I also heard about real flat cutter Fokina and a fake one, I bought it from a gardening tool store, there were no marks on it, but the blade was not painted, my dad sharpened it, since dull ones are only good for thin weeds, but you can’t cut through clover. The correct flat cutter has a handle that is not round, like a hoe or hoe, but with a rectangular handle, so it fits into the hand with its wide side towards the palm, and goes into the ground under the right angle(Marina Lyvina).

The Fokina flat cutter, or any other, and even a hoe, are convenient only in an area where there are no perennial weeds, such as thistle. You cut this one into many roots, and from them a forest of new weeds will grow. Just dig them up, carefully sift the soil with your hands, never throw them into the compost heap, only burn them (Anatoly Berezhnoy).

I did not like. I had to weed onions and garlic, planting - the forest was thick, where would I go with a flat cutter!? Only with gloved hands. But if it’s tight in some place, you can dig it out with a flat cutter, it’s narrow. But just pick, not cut. I don't use a hoe either. A narrow hoe instantly gets clogged, a wide one can cause damage, and the main inconvenience is that the hoe is heavy for the hand. So I field everything with my hands, and just pick it out with a flat cutter (A.D. Remizova).

How to weed beds correctly

• Firstly, do not neglect the site, pay attention to clearing weeds regularly.
• Secondly, do not pull out perennial weeds by cutting off the roots, but cut off the growing point underground or mow the above-ground part. In this case, the weed does not begin to branch, but resumes the growth of the stem that was cut off. If the weed is pulled out of the ground, renewal buds appear on the fragments of roots that inevitably remain in the ground and the weeds grow even thicker. It is on this theory that the effectiveness of a flat cutter is based.
• Thirdly, you need to start weeding the area long before the sown greens and vegetables grow.

The problem here is not to cut down or prune crops that have been sown but have not yet sprouted. Therefore, you need to sow strictly in rows and mark them with markers. On a leveled area, cleared of weeds, drive pegs from the ends of the beds and stretch a cord between them; it will mark not the boundaries of the bed, but the row with the crops. Make the furrow for sowing strictly along the cord, the distance between the rows is approximately 20 cm. And mark each row of sowing with a cord.

Do not remove the cord until the bulk of the shoots appear. Together with the sown vegetables, weeds begin to grow together underground, but there is no need to wait for them to appear above the ground, just once every few days, walk along the bed with a loop weeder, not reaching the cord by about 5 cm. A “Swift” weeder or hoe is convenient for these purposes with a half-moon blade - they are more convenient to drive a straight line between rows. Where weeding is needed not in a straight line, but in a circle, for example, around a flower bed, it is convenient to use the Gardener weeder.

Tool for weeding beds

As you can see, for weeding on garden plot Flat cutters, weeders and special hoes are suitable. When choosing a tool, pay attention to the length of the handle; it should be sufficient so that you do not have to bend over.

The handle should be comfortable; a well-thought-out tool should have a handle such that the working surface lies in the ground at the desired angle. As for the corners, pay attention in the first image to a hoe with a half-moon blade, designed for hilling, cutting roots, loosening, and removing weeds. But the angle of the tool is such that it is harder for a short person to work than a tall one, and the point here is not in the strength of the hands, but in the change in the angle of inclination. So come to the store garden tools- carefully try each one in your hands.

By the way, there is another tool for weeding, or rather for cutting weeds - a disc hoe-flat cutter. Once I saw it, this instrument seemed frivolous to me. But my wife liked it right away. It turned out that such a hoe is convenient for cutting weeds in a small area, in narrow spaces between vegetables or near a flower bed.

N. M. Osokin, gardener, Nizhny Novgorod region

Weed control is hard labour, which takes a lot of time and effort from gardeners. However, destruction weeds necessary so as not to lose part of the harvest. Weeds are distinguished by the fact that they multiply quickly, draw nutrients from the soil and displace cultivated plants.

To make weeding less labor-intensive, you must adhere to the following rules:

• constantly remove weeds from the beds, without postponing this work for later;
• when weeding immature seedlings, pull out the weeds with your hands so as not to damage the cultivated plant;
• after watering or rain, it is much easier to pull out weeds;
• do not forget to loosen the soil between the rows of vegetables;
• mulch the beds. Mulch prevents weeds from germinating;
• don't leave the land empty. It is better to plant green manure on the dug up soil ( annual plants that are planted to improve chemical composition and soil structure);
• do not allow weeds to bloom and form seeds. Otherwise, next year all the seeds that fall into the ground will germinate;
• Don’t make a lot of paths in your garden. They may become overgrown with weeds;
• hand weeding is more effective than using a hoe;
• you can use herbicides. They have different effects: some affect only weeds, others also affect cultivated plants. Use only those that kill weeds;
• Before using herbicides, treat the garden ammonium nitrate or diluted mullein. This increases the growth of weeds and the effect of herbicides on them;
• many weed seeds are carried by the wind. Therefore, it is necessary to fight them mainly at the boundaries of the site, between outbuildings;
• If the area is overgrown with weeds, then in the fall you should dig it without turning over the layers. It is better to use a pitchfork for this so as not to cut the weed rhizomes. With this approach, seeds, plant roots and sprouts will die from frost. In the spring it will be necessary to dig up the area again.