There are two types of weeding every gardener encounters. The first kind is completely gratifying, it’s ripping out those giant intruders and exposing beautiful soil. It’s warm dirt and fresh flowers and immediate gratification. The second kind is tedious, never ending work that quickly wears thin and drives you completely mad.
If you tend to spend more time than you’d like with the second type of weeding, we are here to help. Here are five sure-fire tips to controlling weeds for good.
Stop Pulling
Wait what? Yep – that’s right. Stop pulling. The problem with pulling weeds is that it brings more weed seeds to the surface and covers your beds in weeds like an anthill. Instead of pulling weeds, kill them at their roots by using a sharp knife. Slice through the roots and let the top of the weed die on their own.
Smoother
Covering up weeds is a great way to prevent them from growing because they don’t get to see the light. Preventing the lights from reaching the weeds is one of the best ways to prevent them from growing. You can use wood chips, straw, pine needles, or just about anything else to keep the soil covered. Keep it about 2 inches deep to ensure coverage, but not too much to prevent oxygen.
Stick to a schedule
Give yourself a weeding schedule and stick to it. Don’t take on more space than you can handle. Set aside a specific time and area where you weed each week. Keep up a rotating schedule that allows you to cover all the necessary areas on a regular basis.
Off With Their Heads!
Chop off the heads of irritating weeds is often easier than sitting down and ripping out weeds every day. Dead-heading weeds reduces reseeding and forced them to exhaust their food reserves and limits spreading.
Reduce Open Space
Weeds are opportunistic. They will take advantage of any open space they can find. Plants can often be planted closer than posted recommendation. Closer plants means less open space and less sunlight underneath for weeds to take root.
Fight Fire with Fire
Torching weeds is a great way to eliminate weeds. Small landscape flamers are hooked to propane tanks and used to deliver a tiny fire to weeds, just enough to singe the leafs and transfer the weed to ash. This method is similar to spraying weeds, it just uses fire instead of chemicals. It is quick and effective and extremely gratifying.
Good luck fighting those weeds, I hope these tips help your garden.
