Weed Control Tips

• Weeds are easier to pull with their root systems intact if the soil is moist. Also, neighboring plants are less likely to be disturbed or damaged.
  
  
• Remove any part of the weed that can regenerate. Wild garlic grass will regrow from little bulblets, plantains have persistent taproots; and bermuda grass can resprout from its deep (sometimes 6 feet), spreading rhizome system.
  
  
• Weed seeds need light to germinate. To shade the soil around your plants keep it covered with mulch.
  
  
• Don’t let soil remain bare between plantings. If you regrade or remove plantings, blanket the soil with a cover crop, ground cover, mulch or grass.
  
  
• Hand pick, hoe or smother weeds with mulch to keep them from harboring pests and diseases and robbing your plants of nutrients.
  
  
• If you compost your weeds be sure to use only those that have not yet bloomed and set seeds.
  
  
• An adult can drench the weeds growing up through the cracks in paving stones or bricks with boiling water.
  
  
• Use edging materials like bricks or underground barriers of metal or plastic around garden beds. Plant in raised beds. This will keep lawn grass and perennial weeds from creeping into flower and vegetable plots.
  
  
• Check nursery plants for weeds before you bring them into the garden.
  
  
• Keep a weed bucket in your garden for quick disposal. Pull weeds as soon as you spot them instead of waiting until later. The longer you wait the harder weeds are to pull, plus it gives them the opportunity to spread.