How to Deal With Thistles on Your Property and in Your Garden

We live on a 1.5 acre property that is basically open to the elements on all sides, except for a line of trees along one side of the house that acts as a wind-break. We have a creek running along one side of the property that is just full of all kinds of native plants and wildflowers, but other than that we’re surrounded by farmers’ fields on every side. It’s pretty much a worst-case-scenario when it comes to weeds because we have all the natural plants (aka weeds) going to seed on the banks of the creek, and all the wind coming off of the fields to blow them right into our veggie patch and our flower gardens. Of course, one of the strongest, most abundantly growing weeds is the thistle so we’ve kind of naturally become experts at how to deal with thistles out of pure necessity.

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Even if you try all kinds of crazy harsh chemicals to kill them (don’t), they’ll still come back, and you’ll just have to end up having to use even more harsh chemicals to keep them down. The end result: You’ll end up very sick and you’ll still have thistles. Those things are strong! The real solution here is to put down the glyphosate and learn to live with your thistles. It can be done! Easily done!

 If you have an area of your property that you don’t need to actively walk through, I highly suggest taking a deep breath and just letting them grow and do their thing.

If you have large open sections of your property that tend to get taken over by thistles, there’s a pretty easy and effective solution that you can employ to make that area both useable and thistle-free: Plant a lawn and mow it. 

• Psst! Check out the Top Ten Easiest Plants to Grow in Your Garden

If you have a lot of open dirt in your garden and wind to bring in thistle seeds, then you’ll probably end up with thistles in your garden. We almost always have them! The good news is that they’re super easy to pull as long as you get them before they’re 12 inches tall or so.

To pull a thistle and its whole root out of the ground, go out to your garden after it has rained, or just after you’ve watered everything. This is the best time because the ground will be soft and the roots will release more easily.

[Psst! For even more thistle tips, head on over to the full blog post!]