I Hate Weeds!

Gardening and landscaping gurus tell us that herbicides are our friends. But in reality, what's worse – weeds or the poisonous chemicals we spread on our yards?

From August 2022

Nowadays, we have been conditioned to maintain a well-manicured, weed-free lawn in order to be held in high regard by our neighbors, friends, and even city officials. Some neighborhoods have homeowner associations that will fine you for allowing your lawn to grow taller than a certain height or for having plants other than grass in your yard.

Things haven't always been that way. Did you know that in the 1500s, well-to-do English landowners took pride in their rainbow-colored lawns of wildflowers where grass was considered the unwelcome weed? The arduous task of maintaining the garden fell upon the shoulders of young lads hired to keep the upper-class lawns grass-free.

It wasn't until the 19th century that the perceptions changed. The Garden Clubs of America, the US Golf Association, and the US Department of Agriculture launched a campaign to convince Americans they needed to carpet their yards in a sea of green. With the advent of lawnmowers, everyone could have immaculate lawns like the rich and famous.

Unfortunately, for both us and Mother Nature, the campaign worked.

A NASA-led study in 2005 found that there were 63,000 square miles of turf grass in the United States covering an area larger than the state of Georgia, making it the largest crop grown in this country.

Do these manicured lawns serve any purpose other than taking up space? No, not really. They're actually a very expensive and time-consuming endeavor. They use massive amounts of water and provide little or no beneficial habitat to any of the living creatures we share this earth with. Maintaining them requires the use of mowers, weed whackers, and other equipment that burn gas and oil, and exhaust massive quantities of carbon into the air. To top that off, if you want to have bragging rights on having the nicest lawn in the neighborhood, bags of fertilizer and weed killer need to be spread over the whole yard on a consistent basis.

What You Can't See

Most homeowners don't realize the damage they are inflicting on the environment as they go about this summer ritual routine. They don't see the poisonous chemicals' effects on the creatures and the soil underneath their feet.

Television commercials make it look so simple to safely get rid of all those unwanted weeds without affecting nearby grass and flowers, but in reality, it's not quite so straightforward. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup^® and other herbicide brands, is not as safe as the manufacturer wants us to believe.

Glyphosate is used extensively in agriculture, along highways, in commercial nurseries, and by homeowners. Each year more than 250 million pounds of this readily available weed killer is used in America, and studies have indicated that exposure to glyphosate causes cancer. It has also been shown to destroy beneficial bacteria in our bodies, disrupting the natural balance of good vs. bad bacteria and can lead to diseases such as diabetes, allergies, obesity, and heart disease.

Environmentally, it degrades the soil, contaminates water sources, destroys habitats, and reduces the availability of nectar sources for pollinators. It is also thought to interfere with honey bee navigation and mess with microbes in their gut, making the bees more susceptible to dangerous pathogens.

So, Why Is Glyphosate Considered to Be Safe?

Glyphosate testing conducted by manufacturers is done in a laboratory-controlled environment without using any of the other ingredients found in their over-the-counter products. However, scientists have found that the 'inactive ingredients' combined with glyphosate in commercially-made weed killers amplify the toxic effects.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology by researchers at the Royal Holloway University of London found that several Roundup^® formulations with varying percentages of glyphosate are toxic to bumblebees. Even one containing no glyphosate proved lethal, indicating that the unnamed other ingredients that the manufacturers are not required to disclose are the ones killing the bumblebees.

Many glyphosate products are on the market with no information on the additional ingredients. So, consumers can't know which ones contain a toxic cocktail harmful to pollinators (and humans).

How do we fix this problem? Simple, we find alternative ways to control weeds in our lawns and gardens.

Alternatives to Chemical Herbicides

Safer options do exist. They are not as quick and easy as chemical pesticides but are much safer for you and the environment.

First of all, let the non-invasive native flowering weeds grow in your lawn. They're not hurting anything, and the bees and other critters will greatly appreciate your kindness.

Pull Weeds Up by hand, hoe, shovel, or other tools. It works for small areas. Try to get the offensive plant up by the roots. Early spring is the best time to get the young weeds uprooted.

Disturb the Soil as Little as Possible to prevent bringing buried weed seeds to the surface. Refrain from digging any deeper than needed to plant seeds.

Don't Give Weeds Room to Grow. Dense ground cover will not allow any unwanted visitors peeking up through your flowers.

Mulching with a layer of organic material (compost, bark, wood chips, grass clippings, straw, etc.) will smother and prevent weeds from growing around your plants.

Reduce the size of your lawn. Get out of the traditional landscaping mindset and be creative with your property. How about a rain garden, or a pollinator garden, or a wildflowers meadow? You'll be doing nature a favor by providing the biodiversity pollinators and other wildlife need to thrive. And for yourself – it will save you time and money – as in no more raking, mowing, fertilizing, weeding, watering, or using those terrible, awful pesticides.

Solarizing or covering the ground with a heavy plastic sheet works for baking the weeds until they are brown and very dead. It takes about 4-6 weeks in full sun. This works great to prepare larger areas for planting a garden or reseeding.

*Plain Cardboard covered with several inches of soil also smothers the weeds and makes an excellent base for a garden.

*This method has been very popular for a number of years, but has been coming under criticism lately. Colored inks, adhesives, PFAs, wax coatings,etc. keep the cardboard from breaking down and inhibits gas and moisture exchange.

The main thing to remember is: REFRAIN FROM USING HERBICIDES OR ANY OTHER PESTICIDES. These toxic chemicals disrupt Mother Nature's balance between habitat and pollinators, predators and prey, and the well-being of the environment. Plus, it's harmful to humans too!

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