In this episode, we meet Dr. Lee Reich at his own home garden, where he’s mastered the art of weedless gardening, all without chemicals.
Dr. Lee Reich is an expert on weedless gardening.
Dr. Lee Reich is a former plant and soil researcher for the USDA and professor of horticulture, author, and long time avid gardener. From his own garden, Lee shares some of his tips for keeping it weedless. While no garden is ever weed-free all the time, over the years, Lee has mastered the art of having a garden with a lot less weeds.
From our own GGWTV Garden Farm, Joe offers tips on how to control weeds without chemicals. Later, Joe explains what can happen to plants when persistent herbicides are consumed in horse and animal feed, then used on plants as composted manure. You’ll also learn how to know if the manure you want to use contains persistent herbicides or not.
Lee Reich & Host Joe Lamp’l take a break from filming.
In the kitchen, Chef Nathan prepares a delicious meal using spiced applesauce and roast pork tenderloin.
For more information:
Lee Reich
The book, Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich
Mother’s Earth News: Weedless Gardening
More on Persistent Herbicides: US Composting Council
Link to FAQ’s on Persistent Herbicides from the US Composting Council
Click here to learn more about the Flame Weeder
Compost Locator Map
Mohonk Mountain House
Pork Tenderloin & Spiced Applesauce
*Links related to books and merchandise are affiliate links
About GGWTV
Growing A Greener World is a national gardening series on Public Television that features organic gardening, green living and farm to table cooking. Each episode focuses on compelling and inspirational people making a difference through gardening. This gardening series covers everything from edible gardening and sustainable agriculture to seasonal cooking and preserving the harvest.
This episode is very enlightening! I am getting ready to put in a large vegetable garden at my new place. The area where it’s going used to be terraced farmland at one time but has gone to pasture the last several years. I would normally till the area to prepare the beds but now I’m not sure I should. How would you suggest I get rid of the native grass and prepare the soil for my garden.
You could cover the footprint with cardboard or thick clear plastic sheeting. it will smother or cook the vegetation over a few months. I would use the cardboard since that prevents the light from getting to the surface. Then you need to add mulch after you plant your new garden to help keep future weeds from sprouting.
Our biggest problem is Bermuda grass getting in and taking over the garden. We are trying not to use pesticides but there is lawn all around the garden area and it just keeps coming! This fall, we are pulling as much as we can and probably tilling the rest. Any ideas for killing what is there over the winter?
Hi Betty. Controlling bermudagrass organically is a very, very tough task! You may want to try and use a flame weeder and see if that does the trick. But since it is so persistent from the roots, I even have my doubts on this solution. Personally, I don’t know of anything short of a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate (Roundup) that totally kills it. Let us know if you come up with a good, non-chemical solution.
Thank you Joe for the suggestions , I started tilling today and well do so every week (weather permitting) for as long as it takes . don’t want to use a chemical herbicide if I don’t have to, right now the tilling is something I can do along with hand pulling the weeds as needed . We don’t have to use this garden area to plant in at this point . We have sq ft gardens to plant they produce enough food for us . Just finished planting the Fall garden . Thank you so much for responding to my question and concerns .
I did not see in this weedless garden episode ,what a person could to begin with ,my garden area is full of weeds that are waist high ,the area is to big to try to pull them by hand ,you say don’t till but it seems I don’t have much of a choice but to cut them down with a mower and till the area to get to the soil . We pretty much given up gardening because of the weeds . If takes 30 years to have the kind of soil that the good Dr. has that would be longer than I have left on this earth . Just wondering if you might have any suggestions ?
Thanks
The Greenlee’s Central Texas
Hi Frank. Unfortunately your only options are manual controls including tilling or herbicides. Keep in mind if you till in all these weeds you are going to have millions of dormant weed seeds coming to the surface and germinating. Be prepared for an ongoing battle and repeated tilling sessions until you can get the upper hand on all the seeds just under the soil surface that are waiting for the light of day to germinate. This will take multiple sessions over a full year to get through the warm and cool season weeds, maybe longer.
Your only other realistic option based on your volume is chemical herbicide. While this is not a recommendation, it is something you may choose to resort to. The reality is, if you really want to kill off all those weeds, and hand pulling isn’t an option, you could till them in, burn them down with a flame weeder, or herbicide. I wish there were better options.
This is one of my favorite episodes. So much useful information. Do you have a source for the “engineered orifice” drip irrigation tubing demonstrated by Dr. Reich?
Hi Bruce. Glad you liked this episode. Here’s the answer to your question from Dr. Reich himself:
“I get my drip stuff from http://www.dripworks.com although many other suppliers offer the same items. You can purchase emitters, pressure reducers, timers, and other drip stuff at various outlets such as Gardener.com, http://www.dripdepot.com, http://www.dripirrigation.com, etc.
My garden is relatively flat with short beds so I do not need emitter lines that are very pressure compensating. I use 1/4″ dripperline. If there was more variation in my ground or water pressure, I would use either 1/2 inch pressure compensating line or else, on a larger, farm scale, T-tape. I like to have all my drip emitters where I can check the water flow, so I keep them on top of the ground.”
Love your show. I can handle the quack grass. My problem is thistles . They are spreading all over and in the grass. What do I do.
Enjoyed the video. It would be nice if you highlighted the use of “weeds” as herbs. I notice spraying and burning plantain and it is a very beneficial plant for herbal healing. I think if more people were exposed to that kind of information, we might begin to look at weeds differently and in turn the use of herbicides could decline which is a win-win!
I was wondering if you had any suggestions if have very few weeds in our garden we have a LOT of grass and most of it is the crab type grass that is very hard to pull out it tends to break off before it pulls out and grows right back. A few people have told me not to rototile but we have very hard clay type soil. I have added sand and compost but we still need a lot more. Thanks for your help.
Gale, tilling will bring up millions of dormant weed seeds so your advisors are right. Even though your soil is very hard, try amending it from the top and work it into the soil using a “broad fork”. It’s like an oversized pitchfork with long, thick tines that should penetrate even the hardest soil when you stand on top of the tool. That way you are not disturbing the entire soil surface as you would be with tilling.
As for the crabgrass, it is an annual weed so it will die in winter but it has also set out many thousands or more of new seeds that will likely germinate next spring and summer. A pre-emergence herbicide created for this does work. However, you have to decide if that is an option that works for you. While I too am plagued with crabgrass, I do not use a pre-emergence herbicide for a few reasons, but mainly because it can be harmful or deadly to my free ranging chickens. Plus I have a lot of birds that I don’t want picking up the product and it causing harm. So for now, I live with the weeds and try to choke them out with a lush organic lawn. Good luck!