When I came back home from my usual Wednesday morning exercise, I went to our backyard and I was so astonished when I saw my sick mum weeding our potato garden. I quickly ran to her and stopped her from doing so because she has been held down by severe malaria and typhoid. I quickly collected the hoe she was using to weed.
I had wanted to use Herbicide because I thought it's the most effective and time-efficient method until when Mr. Anthony discouraged me. He said that herbicides are good and the most effective weed control but the crops are usually injured or destroyed too by the chemicals. He suggested the use of hoes. According to him,hoes can even dig down to remove the weeds from their roots but be very sure that the weeds are removed from the roots
else they can easily re-grow when rain falls because small pieces of their roots still remain",He said and his statement made me remember Mr. Okra; my Agricultural tutor in college who told us that there are several methods that can be used for weeding.According to him,Hand weeding and hoeing (the use of hoe) are effective for small gardens like school gardens while mulching and Herbicides are effective for larger areas but take precautions when using chemical weeding or herbicides.
But don't forget that other methods also exist such as removal of weeds by pulling out with the hand and Removal of weeds by using the trowel but in some crops there may not be any other method of control other than tilling." he continued by saying"In the use of tilling method, weeds are removed by uprooting or killing them from their roots before sowing the seeds or planting crops. Tilling is similar to Manual labour but in manual method, weeds are removed by uprooting them which are close to the ground with the use of implements like trowel, harrow, and hoe which are made of iron and requires regular maintenance to prevent rusting." he said and I remembered he concluded by telling us that pulling the weeds from their roots with our hands is most effective because desired crops are not destroyed during the process.
i quickly dropped the hoe and used my hand to weed.Its the best, just that it's time consuming and requires carefulness too . I continued working until I got tired and promised my mum that I will complete the work next time. I rushed quickly to the bathroom and freshened up before taking my breakfast.