Whether you’re a big-time farmer or simple gardener, there’s one common, pesky threat you share with your fellow plant-enthusiasts — weed. A weed is referred to as an unexpected plant that grew in the wrong place. Common ones include crabgrass and lambsquarters. These weeds compete with your plants for resources, like soil space, water, and sunlight. As such, the latter may receive fewer nutrients than they need, causing them to grow slower or even die.
This problem intensifies further when the weed species is invasive. That means that it grows and reproduces fast, allowing it to take over your whole garden. Examples of invasive weeds in the United Kingdom include Japanese knotweed, Himalayan Balsam, and Giant Hogweed. Prevent these pesky invaders from destroying your garden with this short guide to effective weed control.
Slice Their Heads Off
Some weeds may create flowers containing seeds that spread all over your garden. Prevent them from spawning more of their kind by cutting these off. It also deprives the weed of absorbing more nutrients from the sun. The earlier you can chop off their buds, the better. You’ll need a pruning tool or shears to cut these off, depending on how thick their branches are.
Use Mulch
Mulch often acts as insulation for your soil. It’s made of various materials like sawdust and shredded paper that keep the ground cold during summer and warm during the colder seasons. It’s also excellent at retaining soil moisture. But perhaps its most significant benefit is that it can help eradicate weeds.
Mulch deprives these plants of light, which is essential to any living being’s growth. It can also attract crickets and beetles that love consuming weeds. All you need to do is gather a lot of mulch material and lay them on soil with weeds growing in them. Make sure that the mulch is at least four inches thick to deny the unwanted plants from light completely. Be wary, however, that too much mulch may end up rotting the plants surrounding it. If your mulched trees are starting to decay, call a tree surgeon immediately to get them back to tip-top shape.
Keep Them Thirsty
Water is an essential component of plant growth. As such, you should do your best to deprive the weeds of this vital resource. Water only the areas where you have legitimate plants. It also strips weed seeds of the water they need to grow. As such, this practice also significantly slows down the spread of these pesky plants.
Get in There
If you want to get rid of weeds completely, you need to pull them out from their roots yourself. One way to do this is by pulling them. Get some thick gloves on, grasp the part of the weed closest to the soil and pull it away to get as much of the root as possible. Rinse and repeat. If you want clean removal of the root, you could also dig them out. Use a garden fork to dig into the root of the weed and use it as leverage to pull up the root. Use your other hand to pull it out further.
Weeds can ruin the beautiful garden you worked so hard to create. Thankfully, there’s more than one way to get rid of them. Use this short guide for effective weed control. While you may not be able to protect your garden completely from weeds, at least you can stop their growth and spread before they do any significant damage.