A weed-free garden is the best indicator of what you care about in life. Removing those pesky weeds from time to time can feel like an endless battle, but it’s worth fighting for because a neat looking flowerbed means more than just pretty colors and shapes; these yards also compete with our plants for water and nutrients – not mention to how ugly they look!
Your garden is a wonderful place to be, but if you don’t take care of it and let weeds grow too much they’ll totally takeover. Some weed make things easier on themselves by giving diseases or pests that could potentially overtake your cultivated plants as well!
Avoid these 7 common weeding mistakes and learn these helpful tips!
1. Not knowing the enemy
Identifying the weeds in your garden will help you figure out how best to control them. It’s important not only for avoiding a loss, but also knowing what these pesky little creatures actually are, can give valuable information on managing and eliminating pests from lawns or gardens!
Knowing how to identify weeds is a must for any gardener. You can tell the difference between an annual, biennial or perennial plant by looking at their characteristics and habits; it’s important to be able spot these in order not just prevent seeds from taking up residence but also know when they’ll stop growing so that you have time enough before cutting them down if needed!
2. Forgetting the seeds
Weeds are pesky little plants that can be hard to get rid of. They often produce tons of seeds and those unfortunate enough may survive in your soil for years, just waiting for the right conditions like light or moisture before sprouting up again.
When weeding remember this so you don’t end up disturbing any precious topsoil–applying mulch will also help prevent weed seeds.
Some people think that removing weeds before they set seeds will not work, but it actually can go a long way toward reducing future problems with these pesky plants.
Pre-emergent herbicides are designed to kill germinating weed seedlings in the soil and effectively stop them! But, this same chemical also prevents seeds germination so make sure if you plan to over-seed your lawn.
3. Misusing herbicides
There are many kinds of weed killers beyond pre-emergents; all should be used with caution according to the instructions on their labels.
Never spray when it’s windy out and never wear unprotected clothes while applying them (including mask, eye protection gloves long sleeves shirt, long pants, socks, lace up shoes). Make sure you have the right herbicide for your particular needs!
Some herbicides are selective, meaning they kill only grasses. Others can also affect broadleaf plants but not vice versa; non-selective ones will damage any plant that’s touched by them no matter what type it is!
Always wear gloves when applying these chemicals so you don’t hurt the delicate flowers in your garden–even a little bit of residue may be enough to cause serious injury or death for some types (especially sensitive species like strawberries).
4. Not using the right tool
You might be tempted to just use a weed whacker on everything, but that’s not the best solution for all types of weeds or garden situations. For annuals like chickweed and purslane (or even lamb’s quarters!), cut off their unwanted growth at ground level with sharp hoes so they will stop coming up in your flower beds!
Digging is hard work, so instead of digging too deep into the soil you’ll want to use a hoe. The long-handled variety works well for cultivating vegetables in your garden, while a hand one would be perfect if there are tight spots or raised beds that need weeds plucked up from their depths!
For perennial weeds, such as burdock and dandelions, wait until the soil is wet; use a cultivator meant to dig deep so you can get these taproots. And try not leave any roots behind because it will save your re-weeding this pesky weed later on! Good hand tools for digging them are hori-hori knives.
5. Forgetting gloves
Landscape fabric is a great tool for battleting weeds in your landscape, but it may not be the best choice if you want to add more flowers or vegetables.
Mulching provides an effective solution when using it with pathways and other spaces where plants are growing slowly because annuals need fast-growing cover crops otherwise they’ll struggle against their surroundings!
6. Relying on landscape fabric
Landscape fabric is an excellent way to make weeding harder in the long run, but it’s not a good idea for permanent plantings such as shrub borders and perennial gardens.
Soil will accumulate on top of your mulch which provides weed seeds with just what they need: A nice spot full of dirt where plants can grow!
Weed-control fabric is a soil barrier that deters weeds by denying them access to the roots. As time goes on, weed roots can penetrate into this material and be more difficult for gardeners to dig up because of the barrier.
So, instead of regularly weeding, you should remove the landscape fabric after it loses its effectiveness.
7. Procrastinating
Small weeds are easy to remove but big ones can take hours of work. Pull them as soon as you spot them growing so that the smaller ones don’t have get in your way!
Putting off pulling woody seedlings is a big mistake. You may think it’s okay because they have been planted so deep, but before you know it their roots are too far gone and some will send up suckers which can become an ongoing problem if not pulled out completely.