What Should I Use in My Flower Beds to Stop Weeds?
An annual crop of weeds in your garden is inevitable, but prevention, management and eradication are the three-part solution. There are many things that flower gardeners can do to battle weeds. These include a range of options from free to costly, and from organic to heavy chemical herbicides. Find your own combination to get a grip on weeds. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Weed Types
-
It you know something about the kinds of weeds that plague your particular garden, you will be more effective in fighting them. Most weeds, just like flowers, are annual or perennial. Annuals appear because one seed found its way to the bed. Perennial weeds appear each year spread by seed or reproduced on stems above the ground or rhizomes below. Annual weeds can be easy to pull, but some perennial creepers can be a chore. Check with your county agricultural extension service to get information about weed varieties in your area, including their growth patterns and images of what they look like.
Pre-growth Approaches
-
Take some action to kill weeds before they start. Mulch beds after planting flowers or plant ground cover under the flowers. This will keep weeds from seeing the light of day. Use a pre-emergence herbicide to kill weeds after you plant the flowers but before the weeds pop up. These work to stop germination. Apply them when foliage on flowers is dry so the product does not affect the flowers. Water the bed after the application to activate the herbicide.
-
Control the Soil
-
Remove weeds as soon as they appear. This includes clearing weeds from nearby the beds. Make sure your beds are weed free and full of healthy organic matter such as compost before you plant. Be careful of bringing weed seeds into the garden in the soil of potted plants, mulch or manure. It is not always possible to avoid this, but know where the product comes from and how it was made. Pull weeds by hand whenever possible. Dampen the soil in the bed and gently pull them out or use a hoe to break off small weeds.
Herbicide Types
-
When weeds get the upper hand you might want to use herbicides. These are either selective or non-selective. The former get absorbed by the plant and move through its system, killing it. These can be useful for tough perennials and large weeds. Non-selective herbicides kill where they hit the plant. Applied to the roots, they stop growth there; applied to leaves, they kill off the top growth. These are better for small weeds. Herbicides are dangerous if you do not follow the directions very strictly. Apply on days with no wind and use only in the amounts directed.
-
References
- Photo Credit Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
