Weed Control Tips

Weed can be a nuisance, but they are plants too, and serve a purpose.

I once came across a lady who was so annoyed by weeds growing on her patio that she took desperate measures. She used a blow torch....

Weeds are a fact of life

One thing that you will need to deal with if you have a garden are weeds. Weeds grow sneakily on any bare piece of earth as soon as your back is turned. They also like to grow up through your favorite shrub, tangling their roots with its roots so you cannot pull it out without damaging your shrub. If you don’t watch out, weeds are likely to take over the whole garden in one short summer.

So what can you do to stay on top of your weed problem? The first thing is to use lots of mulch.

Use lots of Mulch

Mulch stops the weed-seeds from germinating, but if any do come up through it, their roots are usually quite shallow and easy to pull out.

Mulch can be hay, straw, pea straw, bark chips, wood shavings, pebbles or a purchased weed mat. It can even be green grass clippings from your lawn or leaves raked up from under your trees.

 A Natural Composting Process

With the exception of gravel, mulch gradually rots down and adds nutrients to your garden, so using it not only saves you the effort of otherwise disposing of it, but saves on the cost of fertilizer and the time and cost of watering, as mulch helps to keep the soil moist.

Newspaper can also be used to help keep the weeds down. When thick layers are placed over weeds with mulch and manure over the top, you’ll have a great garden with few weeds.

Different weeds different reproduction tactics

Some weeds with wide leaves that spread out just above the ground - like dandelions - can be attended to by piercing the root with a stake and then pouring boiling water into the hole. This is an environmentally friendly way of dealing with them as no poison is used.

Chipping with a hoe can also keep weeds down to manageable proportions, though it is a slightly harder way of weeding. But it’s marvelous for weight loss!

Sheets of black plastic will not only boil the weeds but also everything else underneath it.

Some people use sheets of black plastic to keep weeds down, but this is not good as the heat generated kills all the good bacteria in the soil and eventually nothing will grow there - except a few weeds.

 You can purchase weedicides or herbicides to control your weeds and these do have a place in the garden if used wisely. Rather than a spray - which can drift onto your good plants - use a wick type applicator.

Otherwise take care to choose a still day and for added protection wrap your good shrubs around with plastic sheeting.



Related :

Annual And Seasonal Pruning
Pruning, Pinching and Clipping Shrubs
Pruning Blackberry Bushes
Pruning Apple Trees
Pruning Grapes
Pruning Raspberries

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