With just 3 easy tricks, weeds will cease to be a problem in your life.
Weeds. The great enemy of a well-maintained garden. They run rampant, spoiling the view, and even damaging other plants. Whether you are a professional gardener or simply someone taking care of your own backyard, sooner or later, we all have to face down these green foes.
When it’s your turn to try to keep weeds out of your garden, here are some tips to do the job that much better.
Make Use Of Mulch
One of the best things you can do for a garden bed is fill it up with mulch. It not only looks a lot nicer than bare dirt, but it also provides a lot of benefits for the plants growing beneath.
Mulch protects the soil from direct sunlight, keeps it cool and dry. It also keeps light and moisture from reaching seeds lying dormant in the dirt, stopping them from growing.
It's important to remember that while mulch will help keep weed seeds from growing, it will NOT stop them altogether. Weed seeds will blow in from all over, carried by birds or the wind, landing on top of the mulch and growing there, now needing to be pulled out.
A good way to combat this is by using drip irrigation instead of a regular hose. Regularly watering your mulch will also water the weed seeds on top. Lay out a drip hose and the water will fall through the mulch, watering the plants below and leaving the seeds on the surface to dry out and starve.
Using organic mulches is better for stopping weed growth More than that, these mulches will break down over time, feeding the soil. You will have to top the mulch up more often, but it also keeps you from suffocating the soil each time you do (Read more about the proper applications of mulch here).
Cut Weeds, Don’t Pull
Pulling out weeds can sometimes take a little longer than poisoning, but it is often the better method. You cannot always rely on the poison to be strong enough, whereas taking the weed from the soil is a guaranteed and instant solution. It also removes the chance of the poison working too well and damaging other parts of your garden.
However, when pulling weeds out of the ground we also dig up the earth it resides on. This earth is usually filled with weed seeds that were buried too deep to receive enough light and water to grow. These seeds can lie dormant for a very long time and, ironically, bringing them to the surface when removing one weed can result in the unintentional planting of several more.
Instead of pulling, use a sharp knife to cut through the dirt and the roots of the weed, severing its head, so to speak. The best time to be doing this is when the weather is hot and dry, because any remaining roots left in the ground will then wither and die.
Fill The Gaps
Weeds will thrive in the areas between plants, stealing nutrition from these plants and taking over the garden bed.
Fill these gaps in with new plants. Even better, when planting, make sure you have no gaps in the garden bed from the get-go.
Tight-knit plant spacing will keep the sun from the soil beneath (and therefore weeds seeds). Also, the more plants there are the higher your chance of turning the tables against the weeds growing, stealing the vital nutrition they need.
Call a Professional
Having problems with weeds that you just can’t fix? Contact us on services@1greenthumbgardening.com.au and let 1 Green Thumb Gardening take care of it for you.
