Effective weed control
If you keep track of every hour you spend in your garden, you'll find yourself weeding excessively. While the first few weeks of ripping off these intruders can be mildly satisfying, the work quickly wears thin. Even crazier—there are just six simple tricks you can take to get rid of weeds in your garden.
what is it Does the garden need weeds? Weeds are nature's cure-all for wounded, destitute places, but weeders and gardeners have different ideas about what to do to make a good recovery. Armed with a better understanding of weeds and the strategies outlined here, you can win every future battle, leaving you more time to enjoy your well-manicured garden.
1. Let the dormant weeds lie
Every square inch of your garden contains weed seeds, but only the top inch or two of soil gets enough light to stimulate germination. Tilling brings hidden weed seeds to the surface, so expect weed seeds ready to explode every time you open up a patch of land, like ants from an anthill. Dig only when you need to, and immediately cover the disturbed area with plants or mulch.
In lawns, instead of digging up dandelions and other lawn weeds to cut off their food source, use a sharp knife with a short blade to minimize soil disturbance. Remember that weed seeds stay dormant for a long, long time.
2. Mulch, mulch, mulch
Mulch benefits plants by keeping the soil cool and moist and keeps weeds out of light. In organic mulch, crickets and carabid beetles, in particular, search for and devour thousands of weed seeds.
Some light passes through the chunky mulch, and you'll find out too late that the mulch you've used is embedded with weed seeds. It is important to fill enough to keep the mulch about 2 inches deep (deeper than 3 inches will deprive the soil of oxygen). However, weeds can be re-established by covering the surface of the soil with a light-blocking card, newspaper, or compostable cloth and spreading a nice mulch over it.
If you choose to use this method in infrequently dug areas such as the root zones of shrubs and trees, choose a tough landscape fabric for a light-blocking bottom sheet. However, there's a catch: Once enough organic matter accumulates in the landscape fabric, weed seeds dropped by birds or carried by the wind can begin to grow. For the bottom layer of fabric to be effective, they must be pulled before they sink their roots into the ground.
3. Weed when weeding is good
The old saying goes “Pull when wet; "Shovel when dry" is smart advice when dealing with weeds. After a soaking rain, have a rewarding weeding session equipped with gloves, a sitting pad, and a truck or tarp to collect the carcasses. Slip an old table fork into your back pocket as you head out the door, because henbit Or nothing better for twisting chickweed etc. Use a fishtail weeder to strip rooty weeds like dandelion or dock when going after the big bulls.
In dry conditions, weeds cut below the soil line, especially if your spade has a sharp edge, will immediately shrivel and die. In mulched beds, use an old steak knife to sever weeds by their roots, then patch the remaining open space with mulch.
4. Take off their heads
If you can't get rid of weeds, the next best thing is to cut off their heads. With annual weeds, deadheading buys you weeks before the weed "seed rain" begins. Cutting back the tops of perennial weeds such as bindweed reduces reseeding, encourages them to use up food reserves, and exhausts the supply of root buds, thus limiting their spread.
You'll need pruning loppers to remove ragweed or prickly pears, or you can read a string trimmer with a blade attachment to cut thorny brambles or brambles into nubs. Whichever method you choose, cutting weeds before planting will help keep them from spreading.
5. Consider the spaces between plants
Plant spacing prevents weeds from growing by shading the soil between plants. widely Avoid weed-friendly spaces by designing in mass plantings or drifts of closely spaced plants rather than scattered polka dots. You can usually shave 25 percent off the recommended spacing.
However, most spacing recommendations are based on the assumption that neighboring plants will rarely be touched when they reach mature size, so stick to the guidelines when working with plants susceptible to deciduous diseases, such as bee balm (Monarda ditima and cvs., USDA hardiness zones 4–9) and phlox (Phlox paniculata and cvs., zones 4–8).
6. Water the plants you love, not the weeds you've got
Dewater the weeds and cause drought on your side. Placing drip or soaker hoses under the mulch keeps plants hydrated while nearby weeds are thirsty. In most climates, water deprivation reduces weed-seed germination by 50 to 70 percent. However, keep an eye out for deep-rooted perennial weeds such as bindweed and nutsedge in areas that are kept moist. Given the benefits of drip irrigation, they can pick up in a flash.
Beyond these strategies, you can get your garden on a weed-free path by enriching your soil with organic matter every chance you get. Soil scientists don't know how it works, but fewer weed seeds germinate in soils with good compost or fresh infusions of organic matter. One theory makes elegantly simple sense: When the soil is healthy and well-nourished, weed seeds realize they're not working and are less likely to emerge.
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