5 Tips For Weeding Your Lawn and Garden

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Here are five weeding techniques to properly take on your weedy garden and lawn.

Mowing Against Weeds

Though only temporary, mowing your lawn is one of the most efficient ways to get rid of weeds. Plants reproduce with their flowers (think dandelions or buttercups.) A plant that can't bloom won't set seed.

Even if mowing doesn't affect thistle-like weeds from reproducing, it will give your grass an even look.

Mulch Against The Weed

To clear out your garden area, you might want to lay down a layer of weed-suppressing mulch. Unwanted plant friends won't be able to penetrate the layer of wood chips or other mulch material. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, tests showed that about 80 percent of an ivy stand will be killed within three months by an 8- to 12-inch smother mulch of coarse bark chips.

If you have time, try sheet mulching. Put a mixture of green grass clippings and shredded dry leaves or straw on top of the area you want to garden. A layer 2 feet thick is not too much.

After up to two years, this material gradually rots into compost, ready to be planted. In the meantime, almost anything already growing there will be smothered by such a heavy blanket and no new weeds will grow through it.

Torch those Weeds

If you are starting growth on a terrain from scratch, torching weeds away can be quite a satisfying experience. But it is highly dangerous and won't work if you are working around vegetation that you do want to keep.

Chop and Un-root Weeds

Tall weeds like nettles and blackberries may need firmer treatment. Here, the solution is to first cut back their prickly top growth (wear serious gloves when you do this) and then dig out as much root as possible.

Combination Attack on Weeds

Combine all the attacks (except maybe the flame throwing.) Mow down all your growth. Dig out the bigger stuff, getting as much roots as you can. Then cover the remnants with deep mulch.

Sources

• Seattle Post Intelligencer

About the Author

Alex Russel is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Since graduating from Syracuse University he has worked at many different media companies in fields as diverse as film, TV, advertising, and journalism. He holds a dual bachelor's degree in English and History.