How to Remove Crabgrass From Planting Beds

Many homeowners find crabgrass in their lawns, and it can quickly spread to planting beds, where it chokes the existing plants and robs them of precious soil nutrients. It is important to prevent and remove crabgrass from your planting beds to maintain an optimum growing area. Crabgrass is highly fertile and requires diligence to control.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gardening gloves
• Black plastic gardening cloth
• Trash can
• Mulch

1. Examine your planting bed and locate any sprigs or clusters of crabgrass. Water thoroughly. Grip the crabgrass from the base of the plant nearest the dirt. Pull hard and remove.

2. Place the crabgrass in the trash. Tossing the extracted crabgrass onto the lawn risks having it take root there.

3. Rake the dirt where the crabgrass was pulled up from the planting bed. This will help destroy any remaining roots and seeds.

4. Place black plastic gardening cloth around the base of plants in the planting bed. This will help with weed control and reduce the chance of unwanted crabgrass seeding. Cover the cloth with mulch.

Tips & Warnings

• Be certain to get all of the roots when you pull up the crabgrass to prevent re-infestation. Keep crabgrass out of the lawn to prevent spreading to planting beds.
• Avoid using chemical treatments on planting beds to prevent killing other plants in the beds.

References

• Black Plastic for Crabgrass Control
• 10 Steps to Become Crabgrass Free