How to Prevent Weeds

Let's be honest, one of the most annoying parts of taking care of your lawn and landscape is weeding. Nobody likes to pull weeds, but it has to be done to keep your landscape looking pristine. Keeping weeds out of your flower bed can seem like a daunting task as well. They seem to grow and multiply over night and before you know it, your landscape can become a mess.

Luckily this doesn't have to be the case. There are many things that you can do to help prevent weeds from growing in your landscape. Not only can they make your landscape look better year round, but they can also help you save time and money. Here are a few things that you can do to help prevent weeds from growing in your landscape and flower beds.

Don't Shoot Clippings Into Your Flower Beds

One of the easiest ways to keep your landscape free of weeds is by making sure your grass clippings are not being thrown into your mulch or rock beds. You'll want to avoid doing this for a few reasons.

First off, the grass clippings will build up in your rocks or on top of your mulch. Not only is this look not ideal, but it can also be very hard to clean the clippings out after a very long period of time.

Not only do the grass clippings look less than ideal in you landscape, but these clippings may also contain grass and weed seeds. Most lawns aren't 100% weed free, meaning that if you mow over a weed and shoot it into your landscape, it will then be more likely to plant itself and germinate within your landscape.

On top of that, you also won't want grass growing in your landscape either. Because of that, make sure that whenever you mow, you do at least a pass or two by your landscape shooting the grass out instead of shooting the clippings towards your landscape.

Apply Weed Preventer

There are many types of weed preventer out there, but they all tend to work the same way, Weed preventers will not kill any weeds that have already come up in your landscape. They will only prevent new ones from coming up.

When applying a weed preventer to your landscape, such as Preen, it creates a weed barrier that helps you prevent weeds from germinating in the ground. If a weed has already become visible, applying a weed preventer will most likely do no harm to the weed and it will need to be pulled or sprayed.

One advantage of Preen is that you can use it in your garden as well once your plants are fully established above ground. Read instructions for proper application if you do decide to apply Preen.

Properly Install Your Landscape

Whether you are constructing your landscape yourself, or hiring someone else to take care of it, you'll want to make sure that it is done properly.

When installing a new rock or flower bed, you'll want to make sure that you lay down landscape fabric, preferably a commercial grade fabric. Commercial grade fabrics tend to be constructed strong than your typical consumer fabric. You'll want a fabric that won't tear easily, allowing weeds and grass to grow through.

If you are deciding to install mulch in your landscape, you'll want to make sure that you apply the mulch thick enough. Not only does mulch add curb appeal and help retain moisture, but it can also act as a weed preventer. When applied thick enough, it can also create a sort of weed barrier that won't allow seeds beneath to germinate. The ideal depth is 2" to 3" of fresh mulch on top.

Conclusion

If you're able to follow these three steps when caring for your landscape, you should have the best looking, weed-free landscape in the neighborhood. If weeds do creep into your landscape, make sure to pull them as soon as possible to prevent them from growing over and spreading. Properly caring for your landscape can save you time and money in the long run. If maintaining your landscape is just too much for you, give us a call and we can take care of all of you landscape maintenance needs.

Contact us at blossomboysservices@gmail.com or (574) 205-9469