False sowing to weed more easily

It is especially in the vegetable patch and in all the other planting areas that this method is going to make you gain precious weeding hours, without too many efforts!

Weeds plantlets appear in only a few days. Here, the Scarlet Pimpernel, a frequent visitor in the vegetable patch.

Hidden seeds

Even if the soil seems clean, it contains numerous weeds seeds, that is to say, simply wild flowers which are suited to the soil in that particular spot. Often it is the wind which has brought them there. When the soil is barren, they are the first one to grow. They have been waiting for such a long time! When you prepare the soil to plant or sow, the soil covers itself quickly with these wild plants as they rise quicker than cultivated plants. Indeed, they play the role of pioneer plants and speed is important to them as they are going to be dethroned by other wild stocks.

Prepare the soil as if you were about to plant or sow.

Cunning gardening

Take advantage of the wild plants aptitude to rise quickly by preparing the soil early. Clean up the soil and when it is bare, loosen it as if you were going to plant or sow, rake it to break up soil-clumps, water…. But without sowing or planting anything! A few days later (sometimes as little as three days and up to a fortnight in winter), these undesirable plantlets will rise. All that is needed is to remove them: use a garden hoe or a Dutch hoe, on a dry day. A few minutes will suffice to remove hundreds of weeds. If you still have some time available before starting planting or sowing, you can repeat the process and let a new generation of weeds come out and remove them again with a hoe.

The false sowing method also works well in small vegetable gardens

Fewer weeds

This method limits the quantity of weeds seeds contained in the soil. So this is an excellent way of reducing future weeding, as in using it, you will see less of these unwanted plants. This method is particularly useful before installing a lawn and especially in the vegetable garden, even in smaller plots and squared vegetable plots. Nevertheless, it will not stop the arrival of seeds later on, brought by the wind for example. So think about the other weeds control methods available such as mulching, planting ground-covering plants, etc.