How to Prevent Weeds in Your Flower Beds: Weed Control Tips

There is nothing that makes a front yard shine better than the colorful look of beautiful flowers arranged neatly in flower beds. Yet keeping these attractive flower beds weed free and looking great can be enormously time consuming if you do it yourself. There are many different weed control strategies available to the gardener in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area when dealing with these little green invaders. But below are a few weed control tips we’ve used to prevent weeds in flower beds and to help our customers achieve maximum beauty with their plants.

One of the best ways to eliminate future weeds from appearing in your flowerbed is to eliminate them from sprouting in the first place. When you till your soil to prepare for planting new flowers you are actually bringing to the surface weed seeds that will germinate when exposed to moisture and sunshine.  To keep weeds from forming, use old newspapers and layer them with compost or topsoil to eliminate the seeds from making it to the surface.

Another way to keep seeds from turning into weeds in your flower gardens is to use a thick layer of mulch to help prevent them from sprouting. Apply mulch on your own, or have a pro do it! After your flowers have been planted, or they have sprouted and grown to at least 5 inches tall, spread a layer of mulch around them at least 2 to 3 inches deep. Not only will this help keep your weeds down and under control, this will also help retain moisture in your soil and prevent them from being over watered. And organic mulch is host to crickets and beetles that actually eat weed seeds – so bonus!

Nothing works better and faster for weed prevention than to actually remove them by hand or with a garden tool. If the weed roots are shallow, then they may easily be pulled from the ground without damaging nearby flowers. But if their roots are longer, then you may consider using a weed removal tool or even a simple dinner fork or knife to dig them out at the root from between the plants you wish to keep. When pulling weeds, it’s vital to disturb as little soil as possible so more weeds don’t germinate and come to the surface.

Other tips that help with weed prevention include cutting weeds when you don’t have time to pull them so at least they don’t produce more weed seeds. It also helps to deprive open garden areas of water, so you aren’t helping the weeds grow. This can be done with soaker hoses around your plants only or precise watering.

If you live around Bethesda, MD and the Greater Washington, DC & Baltimore areas and want a pro to remove or prevent weeds in your flower beds for you, then please contact us for more information.