I read a wonderful Zen book recently that glorified not the attainment of one’s goal but the path towards those goals. It went on about how we need to take the time to enjoy the journey and as goals come and go, the enjoyment of the journey remains. I am positive this man never spent a day weeding in the garden. Whether you are puttering, muttering, or aching, weeding, like it or not, is your path to enlightenment.
Everyone has their own way of weeding, but your primary method of weeding will be to use cultural methods of pulling out weeds by the root or cutting them off at the root. Here is the quickest way that I have found to get rid of weeds:
Canada thistle and Sow thistle – are just evil and have deep root systems. Often the mother plant may live in someone else’s yard. Culturally, it is very difficult to remove by hand. The best method that I found is to fork down around 16 inches. You are looking for a horizontal root that gives rise to all of the vertical roots. If it is a new plant you can hoe it consistently and slowly starve it out.