It depends on what type of weeds you are dealing with. Dandelions for example you need to get the entire tap root out or it will grow back. Use a dandelion digger for these types of weeds. For annual weeds I use a stirrup hoe that can cut in both directions (pulling and pushing) and it makes weeding large areas such as paths pretty easy. I still have to weed by hand around the plants.

Unless you dig down really deep, there's always going to be root left behind. Weeds are smart about survival, and their roots are deep and extensive. Trimming may not remove the weed, but it will weaken it. Depends somewhat on the weed. For example, Bermuda grass grows out of soil rhizomes that are almost impossible to eradicate. Even RoundUp won't kill those rhizomes.

My absolute favorite garden tool is actually a hand spike weeder. Like this. It's cheap, indestructable, and chops the weed off deeply. It is also excellent for precision deep cultivation (deeper than a trowel), where you don't have room for a shovel, and want to penetrate the soil while damaging as few roots as possible. Applying some force, you can turn over a large chunk of soil with one of these. I find myself reaching for it all the time.

IMHO nothing beats sticking your hands in the ground. You have the most control that way. Unless, as LoneJack said, you need to dig it up deep. Like horseradish.

For best results I have hand weeded and followed with heavy mulch. It works really well in my hard. If you do not mulch weeds will of course just keep coming back.

It depends on the weed. Some pull easily and completely. Many do not. As you say some can regenerate from small pieces of root or vestiges of the crown of the plant. If you are happy to work at ground level a hand fork is good. Use it to loosen the weed before removing it by hand. If you prefer to stand, and don't mind bending a bit, a garden fork works well. It's especially good for winkling out long roots like bindweed. On a dry day a sharp Dutch hoe is great for destroying seedling weeds by cutting them off at the soil surface before they get a chance to settle in. You can just leave them on the soil to wilt and die.

So, yes, in my opinion simple tools very often do the job better than hands alone.

Do you mulch your garden? Thick layers of one of the many organic mulches - straw often considered the best - is one of the most effective weed controls there is. Bare, exposed soil has no place in a garden - except as a place to grow weeds.

Dave

I mulch with straw and pine needles. It helps but wind blows it away etc

some weeds are worse than others, clover for example will benefit the garden if allowed to form symbiotic relationships. so I tolerate low weeds under tomatoes, and in the case of clover, I even plant it. but for lettuce and carrots, and other slow growing veggies, I prefer stirrup hoeing just before planting.

For the veggie garden, Lone Jack described exactly what I do. I use the scuffle hoe once or twice a week early in the day on sunny days, and the whole 25'x50' garden is done is a short time. I heavily mulch the paths and add a buried border to reduce grass creeping in. For me the key to weeding is to get them while small.

I don't know the real name of the weeding tool, but we call it the weed popper. It is a short hand held tool with a metal v-shaped end. You stick the V into the soil, push down and then lift and the weed and root pops out easily.

I want one, Grubby! Nancy

zzackey - that sounds like a great tool - do they have one with a long handle - my back can't handle what your suggesting!

That's the tool I was talking about way back on March 3 in this thread. Can't do without it, and it's wonderful for a lot more than weeding.

The handle is about a foot long. I don't think they make one with a bigger handle.

They actually do make one with a long handle, though I don't have one. Look for "Long Handled Dandelion Weeder". Be careful. The cheap ones bend.

Weeding was a family affair for us, growing up -- it was all hands on deck as siblings and I weeded the yards every weekend: Dad passed out the screwdrivers, and away we went! We poked the screwdriver tips just beneath the base of the weed, loosened the soil, and yanked the weed + roots. It's my tool of choice, to this very day.

That's a great idea! I always felt so satisfied after I weeded.

I started out with a Cape Cod weeder which is smiliar in principle to a cobra headed weeder. It's a hand held tool with an "L"-shaped blade. It works the same way a scuffle hoe does which is great for the small annual weeds as they start appearing. But what it's really good at is getting a lot of the root from grasses and other nasty weeds which spreading roots. I think hand pulling is too much work that leaves too much root behind. I will use the dandelion type weeder on something with a long tap root.

There's no reason you can't use several methods.

For example, hand pull some. Use stirrup hoe or regular hoe on some. Maybe some areas even would be useful to spray or spot-spray them with a weed spray bottle or cannister.

And then of course, areas that are good to use mulch, do that, too.

For the weed spray that comes ready to use, an employee at Home Depot told me that they are often made to not really be strong enough so that you have to keep coming back to buy more. The better option, he suggested, was that I should buy the concentrated containers, and then mix my own weed spray with a recommended or slightly higher ratio for really keeping down the weeds. Not to mention the price on the different options with the concentrate being a much better bargain.

I also use a weed popper for dandelions or broadleaf weeds. I have also found it works well for large clumps of grasses like Johnson grass. You may not get all the root out but you'll get the leaves and seed pods, which immediately makes the yard look better, and keep working at it to wear it down.

My dad was able to control monkey grass and I was able to control passion fruit vine that had gotten loose, and just like any section of garden or yard, it's a continuous battle, but if you keep at it, you'll overcome.

My friends often tell me about their yards full of dandelions or broadleaf weeds, and I just remark to them how my yard is relatively free of those plants. They are not visible when looking at the yard, and any that I do see over the growing season, are still low-lying and then I just get them with the weed popper when I see them.

The better option, he suggested, was that I should buy the concentrated containers, and then mix my own weed spray with a recommended or slightly higher ratio for really keeping down the weeds.

If you are talking about Glyphosate (ie. Roundup), the most cost effective is to buy the generic 41% concentrate that they sell at places like Tractor supply. The Roundup concentrate is 18% so to mix at full strength you need 6 fl. oz. per gallon. With the 41% concentrate you can use 3 oz. per gallon and get a stronger mix. It is much cheaper also. I paid $55 for 2.5 gallons of the FarmWorks 41% Glyphosate. I think Roundup has a super concentrate that is 50% Glyphosate but the cost is over $100/gallon.

And before anyone blasts me for using glyphosate, try hand weeding 600 ft. of gravel driveway!

Glyphosate is a pretty benign herbicide environmentally and health-wise, though as Roundup it is attached to the Monsanto name, which in itself sickens many people. The most damaging attribute of it is overspray. I use it for weeds in masonry and concrete cracks that can't be dug out, and that's a very directed application. Probably best not to vegetable garden for several months in a bed in which it has been applied but I suspect you won't be eating much from a gravel driveway. Agreed about concentrate. That's by far the most cost effective way to purchase any herbicide or pesticide.

All these comments have been so helpful, thank you! BTW, I have found a product that is helping me with my back problems, if anyone is interested!

http://kingbrand.com/Back-Ice-Packs-and-wraps.php?REF=1094PV54.391

the cold pack works a treat :)