Taking a look at your beautiful garden, while you’re taking a sip of your favourite beverage, is a blissful experience. The weather is beautiful, and you are enjoying the view as the stars are aligned, and you can take all the time in the world to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Without a care in the world, a well-maintained garden is like a painting that you carefully put together. There is only one thing that sticks out its ugly head and ruins the whole experience. Weeds.
It seems that, no matter how much you try, they are always there and just want to ruin your enjoyment. Whatever you do, it can feel like an uphill battle. You just want a nice little patch of garden, your little private heaven, and these pesky, tireless weeds are doing their best to ruin that. Well, the good news here is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Time and determination are all that’s needed to put a stop to them. Or you could say, to weed them out of the picture. From simple, do-it-yourself solutions, to a bit of help from professional products, you have a lot at your disposal here.
There is a whole array of methods that are just waiting to get applied to your weed problems. They don’t stand a chance so, let’s get going.
1. Let weed sit in the shade
By simply blocking out the sunlight, you are depriving them of their main source of nutrition. In the process, you can spare your beloved plants from this by target blocking weed with several methods. First, if you have some cardboard boxes just sitting around, you can use them and cover the area where you usually have weed. Even if you cut them down, it’s always a good idea to double-tap so, just cover the area with cardboard.
Using old newspapers is also a good idea, just don’t use or turn the colourful sides face down because those can do some harm to the soil. In both of these cases, rainfall can spoil your plans so, if you are expecting rainfalls or are living in such a climate, there is a third option here. Plastic bags or covers are here to save the day. As they can’t be destroyed by rain, they are ideal for blocking out the sunlight and letting weeds wither beneath.
2. Mulch all the plants
Mulch is, to put it simply, ideal for this situation. It feeds your plants, kills the weeds, keeps the ground nice and cool, and looks nice. You can use it to highlight the area around your plants or make groups in the garden. Around 3 inches of mulch is ideal for depriving the wicked weeds of sunlight and let them shrink and disappear beneath it. You should also check the mulch regularly just to be sure it’s nice and wet. The wetness of the mulch is the indicator of when you should refresh or replace it.
3. Homemade and store-bought herbicide
Quick and easy solutions, should be treated like band-aids. These are a temporary solution that’s the best you can apply at this moment. Everyday items that you just have lying around can be made into a deadly concoction for weed removal. Simple as white vinegar that you already use for a lot of things. The versatility of white vinegar extends to weed removal. Use the on with around 15% acidity in it, with protective gloves as we aim to remove weed, not skin, and point and spray away.
Borax or sodium tetraborate is next on the list. With natural elements as boron which is withing, weeds as poison ivy don’t stand a chance. It’s their natural counter and repellant so simply dusting a far bit over them makes them shrivel and disappear. It is important to note here to use Borax only on ground ivy, as other weed types can potentially survive it.
Corn gluten mixed and dumped on can be pretty effective. Surprisingly, it’s usually tucked away, way back in a cupboard, but in this case, it’s the perfect opportunity to dust it out and make the weeds say their prayers.
Of course, you can always go for the cheapest and quickest option, boiling water. You read that right. A single kettle of hot, boiling water can apply the scorched earth method and fry the weed and its roots. Just to be safe and to avoid scorching yourself you can use another do it your self-appliance here. Pick up a tin can and cut out the bottom. Now you have a focused spray collar and, you can direct the flow of any liquids to where you want.
But, when you want to get the job done without the hassle, then you need professional help. Store-bought herbicides contain all of the knowledge and means to help you out in the battle for a nice and clean garden. Affordable and reliable gardening products that you can find in a store like Hoselink will help you do the job with minimum effort.
4. Offing the heads and roots of the weeds
Do as the Frech do and off the heads of weeds. You don’t need a guillotine but a pair of gardening scissors and lob them off. Don’t just throw them away or excessively shake them as all the seeds are there. The point here is to stop them from spreading and not to help them out. Just have a bag next to you and put their fully seeded and pollinated heads inside and, you are effectively preventing them from spreading around.
Also, you can get to the root of the problem here with a single hoe. Then, just cut the problem in the root and, the weeds will be a thing of the past. Uprooting and then cutting them is a somewhat long and tedious process as you need to chop down every single one of the nasty buggers but it’s a satisfying alternative to an overrun garden. Bonus points here are if you are composting as all of this removed weed can be put to compost and then used to fertilize your garden. What a turn of events for weeds, don’t you agree?
5. Drain the weeds
Mentioned above is the method to deprive them of sunlight, but it has a downside. Your beautiful garden can get clogged up with paper or plastic which isn’t a pretty sight. In this case, you can also apply precise and direct watering. Just willy-nilly spraying the entire garden with water and covering everything, means that the weeds are also getting nutrition.
Coupled with good soil, it’s no wonder they spread like wildfire. There are many types of drip or soaking hoses that can be placed neatly around or near your plants. This way you still take care of your precious flowers while draining the weeds dry. One more bonus here is the money saved from not doing excessive watering, as these hoses apply just the right amount and centralize the water flow where you need them the most.
6. Group your plants
Having a nice boxed-in layout is pleasant for the eyes, easier to water and maintain. Oh, and it also kills weeds. Then your plants are grouped, they can easily block out the sun with their foliage and, weeds will have a mighty hard time growing beneath them. Add mulch and targeted watering here for maximum results. You will soon have a nice and organized garden, saving money and getting rid of the annoying weed. For even more enjoyment, google which plants go well together for great synergy and, you can make this a fun pastime activity as you go along with weed removal. Who says something like this has to be boring?
7. Survey any edges
Edges, corners, and hard-to-reach (or mow along) places are prime real estate for weeds. Alongside your fence, they are tuckered away and using it as the base of operations to spread along the way and into your garden. Around the shed or even better greenhouse is where you can usually find them as well. Your greenhouse gets a lot of water, nutrition, and care and, some of those simply slip over to them and, weeds take all the can so that they can spread around.
If you have wooden gardening beds, check around them as well (or even lift them a bit) to see what hides and lurks undetected. Weeds are adapted survivalists among plants and, it doesn’t require a lot for them to survive just about anywhere. Dark, damp, hidden, and neglected places are ideal for them to start parading around and ruining your perfect garden vision. So, keep an eye out and remain vigilant. After you mow the grass, do a follow-up with handpicking or dig them up if some spots remain. Yes, it takes a bit of additional effort but, this is more than worth it in the long run.
Gardening takes a lot of time, effort, money, and dedication. There is no around these but, you wouldn’t like it any other way. It’s a way of life that fulfils us with pride and joy as we watch the fruits of our labour blossom in front of us. Stepping outside our homes and getting greeted by lush greens, fragrant smells, and indulging ourselves in this handmade pocket of nature can make all the difference. Understandably, you would like to keep it that way and, you are doing all you can. Weeds are the exact opposite of the spectrum that you (or anyone else for that matter) would like to see.
Not only can they be harmful to our beloved plants, but they are also an eyesore and a nuisance. Some can even produce allergenic pollen. Nothing of the above sounds fun, but we would like to hope that with this handy list, we have provided you with the means to fight back. After all, is said and done, you can relax and splurge around in your favourite place. It’s bye pesky weeds and hello to a beautiful garden. As you are victorious over them you can raise the glass and toast to your triumph. Here is to that and many more.