If you’re looking for the best way to keep weeds out of flower beds, this post is for you. Many homeowners find it necessary to maintain a weed-free lawn through mowing of grasses. But what happens if weeds invade your flower beds? Don’t worry because I’m going to walk you through some of the preventive measures. Let’s dive in!
1. Use Newspapers
[newspaper seedling]
Incorporate a thick layer of newspapers beneath your soil then add a thin mulch layer to keep them in place. More often, newspapers act as barriers to weeds, so once you’ve prepared your flower beds, add your compost before putting the newspapers.
[mulch layer]
2. Mulch Your Flower Bed
There are tons of benefits that come along with mulching. First, it will keep your soil cool and moist, depriving weeds of natural light. Carabid beetles and crickets are prone to organic mulches, which can also help with weed control.
[inorganic mulch]
If you opt to use this method on rarely-dug areas, such as root zones, light-blocking landscape fabric is a good bet.
3. Correctly Gap the Plants
Closely spaced plants will often deprive weeds of the conditions necessary for growth when plants shed the soil between them. You can enhance weed-friendly control practices such as mass planting and shaving off about 25% from the recommended spacing.
[plant gapping]
4. Water the Plants Instead of Weeds
While this sounds relatively impossible, you can put drought on your end by depriving weeds of water. But how about your plants? You can place soaker hoses beneath the mulch to adequately irrigate plants while opting out the nearby weeds. When weeds are deprived of water, the chances are that weed-seed germination will be reduced by 50 to 70 percent.
[watering plants]
5. Chop Off Their Heads
If you’re finding it hard to eliminate weeds in your flower bed, feel free to chop off their heads. By cutting the tops of perennial plants, you’ll be reducing the chances of weeds reseeding, forcing them to exhaust their food reserves. This is an excellent way of limiting their spread.
[destroying weeds]
6. Use a Cardboard
Like newspapers, cardboards also act as weed barriers to many homeowners. It’s the most effective way to keep weeds away from flower beds naturally. However, tearing the holes in for planting can be challenging, but it’s a great choice for the walkaways.
[seedbed]
