California is home to a wide variety of plants from all over the world, trees, shrubs, fruit, flowers…they all call California home. And so does California homeowner’s biggest nemesis- weeds!

And true to California’s tradition of innovation, more and more gardeners are using smarter, more unique and greener alternatives when it comes to controlling these unwanted plants.

What’s a weed? It’s just a plant in the wrong place. But the key to a weed eradication program is to know your enemy! For instance, this beautiful plant- it’s a flowering Morning Glory but it’s a weed and it’s wrapped around my pop corn. If you don’t know what your weeds are, there are a lot of great books and on-line references for you to check. Or, dig out a sample; take it to your local nursery or cooperative extension for a positive I.D.

When it comes to controlling new weeds, the best offense is a good defense and that includes spraying your lawn and garden twice a year with a pre emergent to keep the weeds from popping up. Pre emergents include all sorts of active ingredients, there in granular form, liquid form and if you’re looking to do it organically look for the active ingredient of corn gluten meal. It’s best to apply pre emergents twice a year for year round control in late winter and late summer.

Another way to start weeds before they start organically is to use landscape fabric or weed cloth. This allows air and water to permeate through, unlike black plastic. The key with weed cloth is make sure you put it the right side up that allows the water to flow through.

The downside to weed cloth is you have to cover it up with mulch to keep it from decomposing in the sun. So a lot of gardeners are skipping the weed cloth and are just putting down 3 to 4 inches of organic mulch. And what that does is it stops the weeds and it feeds the soil.

Weed killers kill weeds and unfortunately any desirable plants you might have like this beautiful rose. So, when I’ve got my backpack sprayer on and I’m killing a lot of weeds I use this piece of cardboard to separate the desirable plant from the undesirable plant like these weeds before I spray.

For pinpoint weed control, you can use one of these devices. Just put the weed control product inside the tubes, and there’s a sponge on the end. That way you can just dab on the weeds one by one without harming any of the nearby plants.

The most organic way to control weeds is also the most old fashioned. Dig them up or pull them out. Also if you just cut off the weeds before they set flower you can control next year’s population. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some 21st century whacking the weeds to do on this pompous grass.