7 Ways to Stop Weeds in Your Garden

Nothing is more discouraging than going out to the garden and seeing that it has been overrun by unwanted plants. Weeds are the most time consuming maintenance for your garden. With these tips you can reduce your time spent weeding, skip the harsh chemical treatments, and win the weed battle.

Mulch, Mulch, Mulch. A well mulched garden has no room for weeds to pop up and the few that may can be pulled easily by hand. Layering newspaper under decorative mulch is a great way to create a weed block without spending a fortune on the mulch.

Mow or pull weeds before they go to seed. One plant can create thousands, that spread like wildfire. By getting rid of the weed before it seeds you can save yourself a lot of work. Hand pulling weeds for a few moments a day can keep the problem in check and prevent spreading of unwanted weeds.

Grow the weeds before your plants. Work the soil, water and allow weeds to grow for 7 to ten days. Pull anything that has germinated to reduce weeds that may pop up later. If you have time repeat this a 2nd time before planting to eliminate straggling seeds.

Avoid disturbing the soil. Seeds will not germinate if they are too deep in the soil. When you rotate the soil so move dormant seeds to the top allowing them to germinate. When pulling weeds uses a Cape Cod weeder to cut the weeds just below the soil so you can pull them out without bringing seeds from deep down up to the surface.

Pull weeds with deep tap roots as soon as you notice them. Plants like Dandelion, Chicory, and perennial grasses can grow back when the deep tap-root is left in place. When you remove the tap root you stop them from reproducing.

Encourage birds to visit your garden. They will eat the seeds blown into your garden before they can grow and take over. They will see seeds you would never have known existed and help aerate the soil at the same time.

Starve weeds. Water plants directly at the roots eliminating excess water for weeds to take. The drought condition will starve weeds out causing them to die without any extra work. Regular fresh mulching starves weeds of sunlight. and a well planted companion garden leaves weeds with little nutrients to take.