What Is Easiest Way to Weed a Large Flower Bed?

Keeping flower beds free of weeds keeps gardeners happy.

Growing annuals, perennials, rose bushes and flowering vines is often quite rewarding for gardeners. A pleasant "side-effect" of having a plot of land to dig and plant large flower beds is having cut, fresh flowers during the entire bloom season. Weeding any garden bed requires ongoing attention and can seem a bit overwhelming if the weeds grow to large and begin to take over, so stay on top of the routine maintenance during summers and do the harder, big work when indicated.

Things You'll Need

• Hoe
• Pitch fork
• Spade
• Rake
• Small hand tools
• Garden gloves
• Knee pads (optional)
• Kneeling pad or low stool (optional)
• Wedding buckets
• Wheelbarrow (optional)
• Hose and water source

Instructions

1. Scrape your hoe across weed seedlings. This often works best when the soil is moderately dry and when weeds are shorter than 3 inches. Weeding with the hoe will not get the full root systems out, though, so it's ideal to actually pull out the weeds. Toss removed weeds into buckets.

2. Water your flower bed to dampen the soil. This will help to easily remove the weeds when prying and pulling with your hands.

3. Weed from the outer edges and work your way to the opposite end of the bed. For example, if you have a large bed with rows of low annuals in front and a central area of perennials, and the entire bed backs up to a fence or wall, begin by weeding from one end around the annuals and working toward the other. Then move the other direction, digging the weeds from the perennials from one end to the other. Repeat with each planting group until you weed each row, eventually arriving at the wall or fence. Circle inward or outward for round or oval beds.

4. Pry small weeds loose with the hand tools and remove them. For larger weeds, it's best to work with a pitchfork.

5. Poke the prongs of the pitchfork between plants and under the weeds to a depth of several inches to fully loosen roots. Pull the weeds completely out. If you see a root has snapped, such as that from a dandelion, dig a bit deeper until you remove the full length of taproot. Flower roots may be affected slightly by weeding with the pitchfork, but you won't be pulling them, so it's not a major concern.

6. Tamp down the flowers back to their regular soil level if any roots have been disturbed. Water the flowerbed fully after weeding is complete. Add mulch to help reduce further weeds. Mulching also allows for easy removal if you do get weeds that seed and return -- which is quite common.

Tips & Warnings

• Some people like to use knee pads or a kneeling pad when working in flowerbeds. These work well when dealing with short, low-growing weeds, but when you have many larger weeds among the flowers, the easiest way is to stand, pry them out with the pitchfork and then just bend over to pull them out.

• Weeding can be hard work and especially challenging on the back muscles when there is a lot of work to do. Use caution and don't overdo it.