Having a garden can provide us with a constant source of wonder and delight. It can also produce delicious fresh fruit and veg – if you like to grow your own food in your backyard. However, there is no denying that gardens also require a lot of work, and the main task we all find ourselves grumbling about is weeding. In fact, for many gardeners, keeping our green spaces free from unwanted intruders can seem like a Sisyphean task.
However, there is some good news. Using the simple strategies detailed below can help you to keep on top of your weed problem and keep your garden weed free, so you can devote your time to more enjoyable garden-related tasks.
Read on to find out how to keep your garden weed free, or as much as possible – without having to resort to noxious nasties.
Remove Weeds On Sight
One of the most vital steps you need to take to eradicate weeds from your garden is to pull them up as soon as you see them, no matter how busy you may be with other tasks. This is particularly important with fast-moving invasive weeds such as bindweed, which twine around other plants, suffocating them whilst the bindweed’s roots steal their nutrients from the soil. The longer you let them invade, the more difficult they will be to remove when you do get around to it.
Don’t Give Them The Chance To Set Seed
Of course, it may be easier said than done to pull out a weed every time you see it, so if you can’t manage that task every time, the next best thing is to make sure those weeds can’t set seeds in your garden. You can achieve this by deadheading any flowering weeds and removing seedheads.
Keep Fruit Bushes At Bay
If you have fruit bushes surrounding your property, or if you have grown some yourself to provide delicious blackberries for fruit salads, then it’s important that you keep on top of their growth. While blackberry bushes are a wonderful backyard addition when they fruit, they are also known for being invasive and, unlike bindweed, they come equipped with vicious thorns which you surely won’t want too many of in your garden.
As a result, it’s vital that you remove blackberry weeds, as noted by Urban Garden Gal, as soon as they begin to encroach on other areas of your garden. There are several ways to do this, including pruning them back, cutting out the whole bush, and mowing them down.
Use Mulch To Your Advantage
Mulch is a valuable tool when it comes to reducing the number of weeds in your garden and helping you keep your garden weed free, or as much as you can really, as it prevents them from germinating by preventing sunlight from reaching the soil. Sprinkle your flower beds and borders with three inches of good-quality mulch, and you should find your weed problems greatly reduced.
Inspect New Plants Before You Put Them In The Ground
Last but not least – we may not realise it, but a number of the weeds in our garden were probably brought there by our own hands, buried in the soil of plants we have purchased from nurseries and garden centres.
To try and prevent this unwitting dispersal of unwanted intruders, make sure you thoroughly inspect your new acquisitions before placing them in the soil. By giving each new plant the ‘once over’ you will ensure that the only new additions you make to your backyard are the ones you paid for! And that you keep your garden weed free.
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