A nearly weed-free garden is a possibility. It starts with learning about the intruders in your garden: Are they annuals, biennials, or perennials? When do they set seed? Do they spread with underground or aboveground runners? Could it even be that some of your weeds have ecological or other benefits? Keeping a weed journal can help you learn the characteristics and habits of uninvited plants in your vegetable and flower beds. Here are a few very common garden weeds, and tips for dealing with them.

Spring Weeds are plants that have actually been in the ground all winter, just waiting for longer days and warmer weather. Many are considered “winter annuals.” The trick to getting the upper hand with these plants is to remove them as they emerge in fall, and start weeding as early as possible in the spring, pulling them out before they go to seed. It will take time to rid the soil of seeds (some live for several years), but with persistence, it’s very possible.

Hairy Bittercress (L) is one of the very earliest weeds to appear. Pull it before it goes to seed and the numbers will be greatly reduced the following year. It is edible, and has a pleasant spicy flavor.

Common Groundsel (R) begins to show up as soon as the days begin to warm. It is a rapid spreader. Turn your back and it will go to seed. Try to prevent this!

Henbit (L) is a species of Lamium native to Europe and Asia. It is often confused with Purple Deadnettle (L), another Lamium species. Side by side it is easy to tell the difference between the two. Both are members of the mint family, attractive to bees, and easy to control. Unlike true nettles, deadnettle does not sting.

Common Chickweed (R) will take over the garden if you let it. It emerges in fall, goes dormant over the winter and then flowers and sets seed in spring. Even with diligent weeding it will take 3 years for the soil seed bank to be reduced by half. Similar to your garden plants, it thrives in fertile soils.

Corn Speedwell, (L) a species of Veronica with tiny, bright blue flowers, is native to Eurasia. It stays low to the ground and tends to grow in low fertility soils. Pull young plants when the soil is moist.

Prickly Lettuce (R) is in the same family as garden lettuce, and young leaves can be harvested for salads, though they tend to be bitter. Like lettuce, it will send up a tall flowering shoot as the weather warms. The tiny, daisy-like flowers turn into fluffy seedheads, which are spread by wind. 

Catchweed Bedstraw (L) has a way of climbing up though garden plants and shrubs. Leaves and stems have fine, hook-like hairs that cling to each other, and to clothing and animal fur. The name “bedstraw” comes from its historical use as a mattress filler. Flowers are so tiny as to be almost unnoticeable, and seed pods are burs that attach themselves to animal fur —which is how the plant is able to spread so successfully! Young plants have shallow roots, and are much easier to remove than older plants with more developed root systems.  

Biennial Weeds are overachievers when it comes to bearing seeds. They take two years to complete their life cycle. The first year they germinate and form a “rosette” of leaves. In year two they send up a tall stalk that produces flowers and loads of seeds! The parent plant then dies and the cycle begins again. Here are a few common biennial weeds that can be eradicated relatively easily. Avoid letting them go to seed.

Garlic Mustard (L) succeeds in spreading its seeds using a method common to many mustards—ballistics. Seed capsules burst open when mature, dispersing seeds several meters. The plant is easy to pull when the white flowers appear, but don’t delay. Once the seeds scatter, you’ve lost your chance to diminish it, until the following year. Young leaves are edible, and tasty!

Queen Anne’s Lace (R) is a pretty flower in the carrot family, but it can easily turn into a nuisance. When the seedhead dries it curls up in a ball, and tumbles in the wind. It’s not difficult to pull plants when they are young, before the flowers form.

Common Mullein (L) starts out as a fuzzy white rosette and elongates into an tall spike crowded with yellow flowers. Some gardeners like the architectural effect it can create, but know that if you let it flower, you will have many seedlings the following year. Fortunately, they’re not difficult to pull out. 

Burdock (R), may look like rhubarb, but it’s actually in the daisy family. It produces a mass of very large leaves in its first year, followed in its second year by the tall stalks of purple flowers than ripen into burs that grab on to socks, coats, and animal fur! The taproot is large and fleshy and has been used as food and medicine for centuries. Wait until plants flower in year two to dig them out and they generally won’t come back. Don’t let burdock go to seed, however; a single plant typically produces 15,000 seeds.

Evening Primrose  (L) has its fans among gardeners. It is native to North America, and is pollinated by hawkmoths and bees, and during the day butterflies may drink nectar from the flowers. Birds enjoy the seeds in winter. There are some attractive varieties and cultivars on the market. Nevertheless, you will find the rosettes in inconvenient places, as seeds are dispersed widely when the wind shakes its tall dried stems, which remain upright in winter. 

Annual Summer Weeds can easily take over your garden. Fortunately, they’re not difficult to control. Just don’t turn your back on them!

Common Purslane (L) is a fast growing annual, known for its succulent, tasty leaves. And it’s rich in nutrients! The only reason it falls into the “weed” category is that it can easily become too much of a good thing. Flower and seed production continues all summer and into the fall.

Lambsquarters (R), is an amaranth family member. Foragers collect the mild tasting leaves; they’re high in vitamins and iron, and don’t get bitter with age. That said, each plant produces large numbers of seeds—good for birds but they can easily create a mild version of havoc in the garden. If lambsquarters gets out of hand, simply turn plants under before they flower.

Perhaps you’ve seed Prostrate Spurge (L) growing between the cracks in your pavement, or laying low on a patch of bare mulch. Like all spurges, its stems contain a milky sap that can be a skin irritant. A ground-hugging carpet of prostrate spurge can go from a seedling to an adult plant that produces viable seeds within a couple of weeks! Ants are attracted to the seeds, and carry them off, no doubt spreading the spurge scourge as they go. 

Pilewort, a.k.a. American Burnweed (R) is a native American plant in the daisy family, which somewhat resembles wild lettuces. It grows very fast and can get quite tall—up to 8 ft (2.4 m) or more—but is easy to manage. It’s well suited to disturbed spaces, which explains its name, American Burnweed. It also explains why it is a common garden weed.

Hairy Galinsoga (L), also known, aptly, as quick weed, can be a vegetable gardener’s scourge. It produces multiple generations a year and can grow so densely that it crowds out favored plantings. It produces flowers and seeds prolifically from summer through fall. Early and constant cultivation is key to keeping it from taking over the garden.

Black Medic (R) looks like a clover and is, in fact, a legume. An indicator of low soil nitrogen, it can produce large, dense colonies that are difficult to pull. Although classified as a cool-season summer annual it can in some cases act as a perennial. Improve your soil by adding compost and you will create an environment less advantageous to black medic.  

Weeds with Runners and Rhizomes are the most difficult of all to manage. Often the best you can do is to dig deep into the soil each year to remove as much of the root mass as you can, and then consistently remove the new leaves as they emerge. There is some evidence that a thick stand of a cover crop such as winter rye or sudangrass, a heat-loving summer annual, can suppress these perennial weeds, though this is often not practical. A layer of damp cardboard topped by a thick layer of mulch can weaken infestations of troublesome weeds. Above all, persistence is the key to managing rhizomatous weeds.

Yellow Nutsedge (L) thrives in moist soils in sun or shade, and spreads via underground stems and tubers. Dig the plants out.

Rhizomatous Grasses (R) look like many other grasses – until you try to dig them out. Their aggressive rhizomes can grow 6 ft (1.8 m) or more. As with all rhizomatous plants, persistence is key. Dig when the soil is moist and try to remove as much of the root as possible.

Canada Thistle (L) is an aggressive perennial weed with a vigorous root system that continually produces new shoots. It grows best in soil with low fertility. Start digging a foot away from the plant’s center to loosen the soil, then lift it out with as much of the root as possible. You will need to do this repeatedly. Add compost to your soil to increase its fertility.

Mugwort (R) can be identified by its strong sage-like aroma. The plant’s volatile chemicals help it to repel insects and browsing animals. In spring, loosen moist soil with a garden fork and remove as many of the roots as possible. Constant scouting and prompt removal of new plants is important if you are to have a chance of managing this aggressive plant.  

Ground Ivy a.k.a. Creeping Charlie (L) is an aggressive garden and lawn weed. It especially thrives in damp, shady areas. Thorough and repeated removal in garden beds will yield good results. Maintain weed-free borders around the beds, or it will creep right back in.