The purslane is back. As I've mentioned before ("Weeding Your Garden", July 27, 2011), I consider this particular weed a garden scourge. I worked hard to eradicate it from my garden and thought I was successful, but it has returned with a vengeance.

Purslane has a long taproot and tolerates poor soil and drought conditions. It's ideally suited for my landscape. A succulent, purslane is resistant to most herbicides used in home gardens. It can propagate from little stem and leaf pieces left behind after pulling it. Its small yellow flowers can bloom throughout the year, any time after a rain or good watering, and quickly release dozens of seeds and they can remain viable for 40 years.
 
Purslane is not native to my neighborhood. My previous garden was inundated with it and I spent many hours pulling the prostrate plants because no other method of weed control is as effective. When I brought some transplants from that garden to the one I have now, purslane seeds tagged along.

Soon after putting those transplants in my new garden, purslane would occasionally pop up nearby and I was quick to eliminate it. I thought it was effectively eradicated because it's been more than a year since I pulled the last plant. Then I literally stumbled into a seldom-traveled section of my garden and discovered it covering the ground. With its detested image burned in my mind I searched to determine its range and soon found it in the prairie grass outside of my garden borders too.

Without my immediate effort to take control, I could imagine it taking over and running rampant through the landscape. I pulled every plant I found and scoured the yard for every possible foothold. Most importantly, I've repeated this effort every day since the first discovery.

Purslane is not a good candidate for the compost pile. The possibility of plant pieces or seeds finding their way into other garden areas through the compost is too great. Discarding it is the only option. Rather than throw it in the trash, I decided to let the chickens take care of the problem. Purslane is eaten in many areas of the world as a nutritious salad vegetable and my chickens loved it.

There are many weeds that can quickly take over a garden. We've all seen fields covered by dandelions and know they can be difficult to eliminate from a lawn or flower bed. It takes dedication, work, and often years to remove their presence. And even when it appears a weed is gone, it can return without constant dedication and vigilance.

I'd grown a bit complacent when it comes to purslane in my garden. My vegetable and flower beds are as weed-free as they can be because I pull little weeds when they first sprout in the mulch. The paths between my raised beds and the areas surrounding them aren't so clean. Weeds grow with more freedom in those spots and I deal with them all at once every month or two in the summer. That's how purslane crept in so quickly.

Now I have to be more proactive if I want to stay ahead of this invasion. The best way to eradicate a weed is to keep it from flowering and going to seed. When all of the weed seeds that are already in the soil sprout and begin to grow, kill or remove them before they can reproduce. There may be thousands of seeds that make the effort, but when the last one is gone the entire species is gone. If a single weed is allowed to set seed, the whole weed control process has to begin again.

I have no idea how many seeds are out there. Purslane seeds don't germinate when they're buried deep in the ground. Tilling and turning over the soil brings dormant seeds to the surface to sprout and that normal gardening activity is bound to introduce more weeds into my garden. There are many days of pulling ahead.

Walking through my garden is a daily activity. I check for new growth, flowers, vegetables, and fruit every day. Now those normal tasks join with purslane detection. I've resolved to eliminate it. It won't be easy, but it is necessary.

Many gardeners have difficulty determining what is a weed and what is a vegetable. We all love growing plants and just about any sign of new green is welcome. The idea of unnecessarily pulling, digging, or spraying a valuable garden plant is painful. In an effort to positively identify the suspect, we'll let it grow to large size through delay and procrastination. A major problem arises because bigger plants can often present bigger problems like large roots, reseeding potential, interference with companion plants, and difficulty in removal.

Weeds can dominate a gardener's chore list if not dealt with early in their life cycles. It's easier to pluck small, tender seedlings than it is to remove a long taproot that can grow into new plants if not completely eliminated. Spraying herbicide on weeds will often kill them, along with neighboring plants that you wish to keep alive. The whole world of weeds is a pain in the overalls especially when we think we don't know how to tell which plants are weeds.
 
Weed identification begins with garden plant identification. There are thousands of plants that we typically consider weeds, but you don't need to learn even a fraction of them. There are far fewer plants that we cultivate in our gardens; it is much easier to learn what they look like. Learn what a cucumber, corn, squash, pea, radish, lettuce, and carrot seedling looks like and you're well on your way to learning weed identification.

The basic premise is that you become familiar with the plants you're intentionally growing. If anything else pops up next to your chosen few, it's a weed.

Use my definition:  A weed is any plant growing where you don't want it. You'll find other sources that classify weeds as "wild" plants competing with "cultivated" plants, but I think that is too limiting. If something is growing where you don't want it to, you need to move it, remove it, or kill it; it's a weed.

How do you know what a cucumber seedling looks like? The answer is to sow cucumber seeds in a discernible pattern. As they grow you'll see the small plants lined up as you planted them. Those are the cucumbers.

Want to learn about green beans? Grow green beans. You'll see a collection of plants growing at the same rate because you planted them at the same time.

Weeds don't follow the same guidelines of cultivation. They grow haphazardly. They grow to different sizes and shapes and colors. They'll often be grouped into a small space where their seed pod landed. Or they'll be widely scattered. There is no recognizable pattern to weed growth, which makes them easy to spot if you design your plantings in a recognizable pattern.

As you care for your seedlings, transplants, and established plants, remove any invaders before they become established. It may be Milkweed, Spurge, Purslane (my nemesis), Sorrel, or Thistle that moves in. While experienced gardeners can often identify such culprits it really doesn't matter as they are plucked from the soil. Pull them early and pull them often. Keep your garden bed for your intended plants only.

Eventually, as you maintain this basic regimen, you'll become familiar with which plants are the most common weeds in your garden. You pluck them from your beans and peas and then you'll see them among your daisies and poppies. You won't have to struggle deciding if it's a weed or not, you can be confident in eliminating the threat.

Of course keeping up with the attack of weeds can be daunting. Use that to your advantage. When one of your beds is overrun, remember what the attackers look like when you eventually deal with them. This can help in their identification in other beds.

While you can handle the anonymous weed threat forever, there may come a time when you need to learn more about pernicious attackers. A few years back I had an infestation of a particular weed that consumed great amounts of my time. While I try to avoid using herbicides in my garden, they can be effective when needed. But specific herbicides are only effective against specific types of plants. That's when you need to identify your weed.

The internet, reference books, local Extension offices, and experienced gardeners can all help you identify a plant. In my case I learned that my weed nemesis was "Purslane". The waxy leaves, low growth pattern, and green-purple color became very easy to spot in the garden. I learned that purslane is edible and is often cultivated by gardeners as a salad plant. I also learned that it is resistant to many of the herbicides I would have used on it. The best method of eradication was pulling or cutting it before it seeded.

When I moved to a new house,  I started a new garden with many transplants I dug up from my previous garden. Before long I noticed the tell-tale Purslane emerging among some of these plants. I acted quickly and mercilessly. No Purslane was allowed to live and my garden is now completely Purslane-free. The problem was eliminated because I only allowed specific plants in my beds and I learned to identify a specific threat.

Pay attention to everything in your garden. We typically don't sow seeds in our garden paths. If something begins popping up between our stepping stones or through the mulch, it is a wild plant that was sown by wind or birds or was lying dormant in the soil for untold years. Take a few seconds to make a mental image in your mind and store it in your brain's "weed file". The next time you see that plant in a garden bed you won't need to hesitate. It's a weed.

Even plants you place intentionally can become weeds. Remember, a weed is any plant growing where you don't want it. You want them in your garden, but they can self-sow or spread to an area that isn't part of your plan. Once they interfere with other plants and you don't like their location, they're weeds.

You're probably more familiar with this category of plant so identification can be easy. My Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina) is nice to look at and fun to feel, but one section has overrun my Knautia and Salvia. It's turned into a weed and needs to go. Lucky for me I can easily tell the offending plant from the others I'm trying to save because it's one I planted on purpose. The Knautia in this bed is also beginning the march into other areas. Right now it's a valued plant but I recognize that it will become a weed once it escapes into nearby plantings.

You don't need to know the name of the weed you confront. We all know what Dandelions look like, but many of us don't know the name Prostrate Knotweed, a plant that many gardeners have and instantly pull as a weed. I have it, I pull it, and I only recently learned the name.

Identifying weeds can be quite easy, but identification doesn't imply knowledge about the nomenclature, history, cultivation, and life cycle of a plant. You don't need to know the name to identify a plant as a weed.

Don't delay dealing with a problem plant while you learn about it. Know the plants you want in your garden. Learn about their cultivation and maintenance needs; know their nutrition and fertilization requirements; know their names. Realize that any plant interfering with your garden is a weed. You can learn its name after you remove it.

Wednesday is weed day for me. As I mentioned in my earlier article, "Weeds in the Garden", I try to dedicate a day of gardening tasks to weeding. This wasn't always the case. For many years weeds had more time to grow than I had time to remove them. When I finally attacked them it would take nearly a full day to remove the thousands of plants overwhelming my garden beds, and even then all of the miscreants weren't eradicated.

I've since learned that mulching and regular weeding makes the task less imposing. Now when I focus a day on weeding, the activity takes less than an hour. The key is to stay on top of weeds. Pulling a few every time you're in the garden helps keep them from overrunning your plants.

Mulch is a critical first-line defense. One of the wonderful attributes of mulch is that it reduces weeds. When weeds do pop through the mulch they're often easy to identify and easy to remove. A simple tug is usually enough to dislodge them. This year my raised beds are all mulched and I've been able to keep them virtually weed-free. The weeds still invade but with only five or ten minutes of effort every other day I can eliminate them from all 13 beds.

I divide weeds into two broad categories: shallow root and deep root. Shallow-root weeds are easy to remove by hand or with a tool like a hoe (more on that later). Deep-root weeds take a little more effort to remove and often require individual attention with a specialized tool. Shallow-root weeds are often annual weeds and deep root ones are often perennial. Young deep-root weeds can be removed as easily as shallow root ones.

Because I make an almost daily effort to weed, my hands are the tools of choice. I grab the solitary invader close to the soil surface and pull it out. Because of my vigilance they seldom have seeds so I just toss the little plant on top the mulch to decompose and add some nutrients back to my soil.

When weeds are more plentiful, particularly in un-mulched areas, trying to pull each one by hand can be daunting. That's when real tools come into play. While you can find dozens of weed-fighting options, there are three weed attackers that I keep in my weapons bin: a dandelion weeder (also called a taproot weeder), a right-handed weeder (AKA a collinear hand weeder), and a stirrup hoe (AKA a shuffle hoe or Dutch hoe).

The dandelion weeder should be in every gardener's shed. Designed for deep-root weeds like dandelions, it has a long shank with a notch at the tip that allows you to spear it deep into the soil and dig out the weed's long taproot in one piece. This is important because many deep-root weeds will regrow if a portion of the taproot remains in the soil. Trying to yank them out by hand seldom removes the entire root. I use a hand version of this weeder but you can also find long-handled versions that allow you to dig out weeds while standing up.

For shallow-root weeds growing near valuable garden plants I use a right-handed weeder (left-handed versions are also available). This tool has a flat, sharp blade attached to the handle by a thin curved shank. The idea is to draw the blade through the soil, just below the surface, and slice off the weeds from their roots. It works very quickly and very effectively. The roots are severed and the weeds die. Because many of these weeds are annuals, they won't return. The small size and pointed tip of the tool allows you to remove weeds without damaging nearby plants.

When weeds have overtaken a large area, I reach for my stirrup hoe. It also drags just below the soil surface slicing weeds. The long handle allows me to preform the task standing up with minimal effort. The action end has a flat blade held in place by a stirrup-shaped frame. Basic designs vary, but mine allows it to remove weeds with both the forward and backward strokes of the tool. In little time a large area can be weeded. I love this tool.

While I prefer to use mechanical methods for removing weeds, I do occasionally resort to herbicides. Weeds that grow in my garden beds are removed by hand or tool; I don't want to risk damaging my garden plants with chemicals. But when weeds overpower my garden paths or thrive in areas that don't threaten valued plants spraying with an herbicide can make the task easy.

I use two basic types of herbicide. There is the broad-spectrum, non-selective herbicide that kills almost every plant it touches. The most common type is glyphosate (widely known as Roundup); it kills both shallow-root and deep-root weeds, and just about any other plant. The second type is a broad-leaf herbicide like 2, 4-D. It's sold under many brand names as a lawn weeder; it kills weeds with broad leaves but won't harm grass.

As I mentioned in the previous article, weed identification is important. Knowing your weeds will help you choose the correct tool for removing them. Using a stirrup hoe on dandelions won't kill them, but it will cut off the plant before it flowers and sets seed. My nemesis is Purslane; it is easily removed by hand or tool, but is very resistant to herbicides.

Purslane is grown by some gardeners on purpose because it is edible and supposedly tastes good in a salad. For me it is a scourge. In my previous garden it grew rampant and was the reason I had to spend so much time weeding. In my current garden it hasn't taken hold and I make extra effort to keep it that way. Some seeds obviously hitchhiked in soil of transplants I moved to our new home. Purslane grows quickly and sets seed early; it will even set seed after it's been pulled. When I see it I pull it and I discard larger plants in the trash so they won't have any chance of spreading seed. If I delay in my duties it may take over and I don't want that to happen. By knowing this weed I know how important it is to deal with it.

What to do with the pulled, sliced, or dug-up weeds is a personal choice. As I mentioned above, for the occasional young weed I pull in my raised beds I just toss it on top of the mulch in the bed. During weed day when I remove a large number of weeds, the compost pile is often the repository. If the weeds have flowered and set seed they usually end up in the trash; I prefer not to add more seeds to my environment.

One last factor needs to be considered when weeding. There are millions of seeds in the soil of a typical home landscape. Each of those seeds is waiting for the opportunity to germinate and make your day a little more challenging. The majority of them will never sprout, but every time you dig or disturb the soil you give some of them the chance. When you pull a weed you are also pulling up soil that contains the brother and sister seeds of that plant and they're more than willing to replace it. That's one reason weeding seems to be a never-ending chore and why they tend to grow in groups.

When you use a hoe or hand tool you will wake up seeds hiding in the soil. You better be prepared to repeat the process regularly. A benefit of herbicides is that they don't disturb the soil. The plant dies and nearby seeds aren't encouraged to grow. That's a primary reason I use herbicides on my garden paths; it reduces the number of future weeds.

Weeding isn't pleasurable. If you want to give your plants the best opportunity for success you need to remove competitors and weeding becomes necessary. How you do it is up to you. Hands, tools, and chemicals are about the only ways to attack them and you get to choose your preferred method. Consider a combination as I do. Regardless of your tack, if you act early and often the overall effort becomes easier.

Weeds are the bane of gardeners. Scarcely a day goes by that I don't pull weeds, most of it unconsciously. When I spot a sprout popping up in a place it shouldn't be as I make my garden rounds, I'll remove it and keep on moving with hardly a second thought. Though individual plants disappear, with time, especially a long time with lots of sun and rain, weeds multiply and can become a major garden problem. That's when they become a real nuisance.

To begin, a weed is any plant growing in any place you don't want it to grow. Many people think a weed is a wild plant that dominates an area, but to a gardener even beloved plants can be weeds. This season I have removed tomatoes, sunflowers, beans, and lamb's ear from various plots because they sprouted where they didn't belong. This being said, the majority of weeds are plants that offer no benefit to a gardener and are wild in nature.

In an uncultivated area they may pose no issue, but when these plants begin competing with vegetables, flowers, and other garden plants gardeners need to step in and halt the competition. All garden plants pull water and nutrients from the soil and soak up the sun's rays. A weed threatens the water, nutrient, and sun absorption of plants we are trying to grow. Left unchecked the dominant one overwhelms the weaker and too often the dominant plant is a weed.

A weed-free garden will produce stronger fruit, vegetables, and flowers than one that is overrun. I suggest that the amount of time and effort devoted to weeding is proportional to the quality and quantity of a garden's harvest.

Effective weeding begins by identifying which plants are the preferred ones. You have to know what plants you want to keep and what plants are interfering.

My vegetable and flower beds are as ordered as I can make them. My Daylilies are grouped together so when another plant moves in it's a weed, regardless of what type of plant it is. My tomatoes, beans, spinach, and squash all have specific plots; anything else growing in those plots is a weed. By specifying what grows where, weed identification becomes easy.

Dealing with weeds early is an important factor. Removing them before they produce seeds and become established is critical. A handful of young, unwanted plants can be easily pulled. Dozens and hundreds may require more drastic mechanical or chemical action. Many notorious weeds distribute thousands of seeds from a single plant (15,000 from a dandelion). Eradication can become virtually impossible if a single plant is allowed to propagate.

Use mulch at every opportunity. Mulch reduces weeds by limiting the soil's exposure to the sun, an important component for weed seed germination. The plants that do grow through the mulch are easy to spot and often have a weaker root structure while young; the roots are growing in the mulch and not firmly in the soil.

Devote a portion of your gardening activities to weeding. Though I pull weeds every day, this week I dedicated my chores on a "weed day" to systematically move from bed to bed removing every weed. It wasn't terribly difficult because I mulch routinely and pull often. But even I was surprised to find the number of small plants trying to gain a foothold underneath branches and leaves that could only be seen by squatting and pulling aside the leaves.

Learn about the important weeds in your area and which methods can control them. In the U.S., the federal and most state governments have identified invasive and noxious weeds that should be removed when recognized in the landscape. In my area one of them, Myrtle Spurge, has been identified as a noxious weed and is outlawed, but I still see many gardens in town that grow the ornamental plant.
 
Know what your garden plants should look like at different life stages. Remember what your most common weeds look like when they're young. It doesn't help you when you pull out a small vegetable plant thinking that it's a weed.
 
Be aware of the difference between annual and perennial weeds. Typically annual weeds will die at the end of the season and will only propagate by seed. Prostrate spurge, crabgrass, and common purslane are annual weeds. Perennial weeds have extensive root systems with deep taproots or rhizomes that send up new shoots each year. Dandelion, quackgrass, and white clover are perennials that aren't easily controlled.

Generally, you can control many annual weeds by just pulling them as I've already mentioned or by tilling or using a hoe. Perennial weeds need to have most or all of the root system dug up to eliminate future plants and can also sprout from seeds, a double threat. Simply pulling the stem and shallow roots of an annual weed should kill it, but doing the same with a perennial may have little effect.

There are weed seeds everywhere. Unless you begin with sterile soil in a covered greenhouse, your soil is likely to have weed seeds in it. Even if it doesn't now, it will as soon as the wind blows. You may have removed every dandelion from your lawn but a single plant in your neighbor's yard will create problems for you when you're downwind. Weeding will always be a part of gardening.

Know that you can create your own weeds. If you allow your flowers to set seed and self-sow, you may have to deal with the plants that result. I enjoy letting my plants fill in bare areas, in beds that they're allowed, but at some point flowers need to be deadheaded to avoid overwhelming nearby plants.

Keep your garden healthy. Proper watering, fertilization, pruning, and soil amendment will help make your plants strong. Robust plants can easily be the dominant ones when weeds try to move in. Filling a bed with healthy plants won't allow weeds the opportunity to establish.

Get in the habit of dealing with weeds one on one. Don't walk by a new weed in your garden without pulling it. Lots of little gestures like that can prevent major activity later.

I'll discuss processes of weeding en masse in another article. I have my favorite methods, as do many dedicated gardeners. This year I'm staying on top of my weeding and have very few problems in my flower and vegetable beds, but that hasn't always been the case. I'll share my weeding dilemmas soon.

Few gardeners enjoy weeds. Like most problems, we wait until they're in our way before we deal with them. Spring offers a great opportunity to eliminate weeds. Today, the weeds I'm talking about are the ones we all recognize as problems in the lawn.

When confronting these nuisances, it's important to remember that weeds are plants and they have the same life cycle of all other plants. There are annual weeds and perennial weeds. Knowing which kind you have can help you battle them appropriately too.

The first action you can take in the spring is the application of pre-emergent herbicides. They work well at controlling some of the seasonal weeds. You'll often see them packaged as "weed and feed" products where a pre-emergent herbicide is combined with a fertilizer. The herbicide hinders growth of weeds while the fertilizer encourages growth of grass.

Pre-emergent herbicides are chemicals that keep weeds from growing. Note that they don't kill established weeds or the seeds, they just keep new weeds from growing, usually by affecting germination of the seed. Most importantly, they need to be applied before the weed is growing. If you wait until you see weeds, it's too late to apply a pre-emergent herbicide. Also, if you apply them too early they can dilute or dissipate and have no effect when weeds begin to grow.

When average soil temperature reaches about 50 degrees, some time between March 15 and April 1 in most areas, weeds like crabgrass and clover beginning emerging. Pre-emergent herbicides are specifically designed for those summer weeds. So now is a good time to apply them; waiting much longer will lessen their effect. In cooler areas like mine, it's okay to wait as late as April 15. In very cold regions you can wait until May 1 and in warm areas you might want to apply as early as March 1. 

Yes, I know you missed the opportunity if you live in a warm region, but you can save yourself time and effort by realizing it's too late. Applying a pre-emergent herbicide now will do no good.

To determine the best time to apply a pre-emergent herbicide in your yard, think about next year. Note when the weeds start growing this year, subtract two or three weeks, and choose that date as the time to apply the herbicide next year.

Also, be aware that a pre-emergent herbicide is not picky about the seed growth it hinders. That's valid for grass seeds too. If you plan to re-seed your lawn, think twice about pre-emergent herbicides. Any grass seed you sow will be prevented from growing.

Once weeds are growing, it's time to turn to post-emergent herbicides. These are the ones that are specifically designed to kill the weed after it is already growing. There are two types: selective, which will only kill targeted weeds; and non-selective, which will kill any plant. Herbicide labels will tell you which weeds they are for and when and how they should be applied. Rules for herbicide labels are very strict and they include a wealth of information, so read the label carefully because all herbicides are not created equal.

Selective herbicides like 2, 4-D (Weed B Gon) will kill broadleaf weeds like clover while leaving the slender grass blades alone. Non-selective herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup) will kill the weed, the grass, and any flowers that the mist blows on. Make sure you use the correct one for the weeds you're targeting.

There are natural pre-emergent herbicides too. Corn gluten is the most prevalent and one that you can find at many nurseries. It will be more expensive than chemicals, but achieves the same result using an all-natural component.

For post-emergent action, full-strength vinegar can kill weeds, but it often takes multiple applications. Molasses has also been proven to work on some weeds. Boiling water can kill some weeds, but it isn't very efficient. All of these methods run the risk of killing the grass nearby too.

I don't recommend two methods that you may hear about. Under no circumstance should you use gasoline or kerosene to kill weeds. It harms the environment, is dangerous, and isn't necessary with the other options available. Also, avoid using a blowtorch. A torch will kill weeds but also kills soil microorganisms and any other nearby plants and you also run the risk of starting a fire. In dry areas it should never be considered.

If you don't like applying chemicals of any type, your best option is to take matters into your own hands. Literally. Wait until weeds are growing, but before they set seed, and get out there with a screwdriver or weed puller and dig out every weed you see. There will be uncountable seeds already in place or blowing in from your neighbor's yard, but by physically removing the weed plant you keep it from propagating. Physical removal is best for perennial weeds like dandelions.

The best control for lawn weeds is to maintain a lush lawn. When the grass is well established, it makes it difficult for weeds to gain a foothold. If you are ready to attack weeds before they find a sanctuary, you'll lessen the amount of weed control you need in the future. Focus on growing good turf and your weeds problems will be a distant memory.