(originally posted 11/14/2007)

One more serious cause of runoff and the resulting erosion is excessive herbicide spraying.  Earlier on, we saw the importance of maintaining full vegetative cover over the soil. In practice, herbicides are used 99% of the time to achieve the opposite effect: bare soil. You only need to take a quick look around some yards, roadsides and farms nearby to see firsthand how the use of herbicides leaves large areas of soil lifeless and bare. These areas are constantly getting stripped by the rain.

There are many alternatives to spraying, alternatives that enhance the soil instead of destroying it. Before naming some,  let’s look at the outcome we want to achieve: all soil covered with vegetation. Preferably vegetation other than what you usually refer to as “weeds”. Some of these so-called weeds can actually be helpful as soil-enhancers, especially in agricultural settings where looks aren’t first priority. In any case the ones you always need to eliminate are invasive species. You’ll want to end up with beneficial groundcovers and in most situations you’ll want the result to look attractive.

• Determine which weed species are truly undesirable in your situation and eradicate these as much as possible by manual/mechanical means.
• Control the others by mowing, weedwhacking or – more-or-less level areas only – cultivation.
• Plant suitable ground cover species, preferably ones indigenous to your region, at such a spacing that they may be expected to fill all gaps within about six months.
• Keeping the area handweeded will get easier and easier as your plantings start to fill in their allotted space.
• The time you spend doing this is you are getting healthy exercise without the need for expensive gym memberships or equipment. And gardening nourishes your soul as well as your body.

We have now covered the three most important mechanical causes of soil erosion, the last of which also has a strong biological impact on the soil. The rest of this series will address the biological aspects of soil conservation.

P.S.  I will be adding more pages to the website  full of valuable infomation and resources to help you with your soil conservation projects, so be sure to bookmark this site and check back in every now and then for updates, or use the subscribe box above to receive free updates by email.