For most gardeners, weeding isn’t exactly a favorite chore.
It sure can feel like an endless (and maybe even a losing) battle during the growing season.
Yet, aweed-free gardenlooks neat and tidy, especially right after a big weeding session.
Credit: PavelRodimov/Getty Images
If left unattended, aggressive weeds can totally overrun a bed, smothering your favorite flowers or vegetables.
Some weeds also can give diseases and pests a foothold to spread to your cultivated plants.
Make things easier on yourself by avoiding these common weeding mistakes.
Credit:Juli Lopez-Castillo / BHG
Not knowing the enemy.
Identifying the weeds in your gardencan help you figure out the best strategy for controlling them.
“Being able toidentify the weedwill give information on how to manage it.”
Credit:Juli Lopez-Castillo / BHG
For starters, it helps to know if you are dealing with anannual, perennial, or biennial weed.
It also helps to learn how particular weeds spread (by seed, runners, suckers, etc.
), when they flower, and when the seeds tend to germinate.
Juli Lopez-Castillo / BHG
2.
Weeding before seeds are set can go a long way towardreducing future weeds.
Preemergent herbicides, designed to kill germinating seeds in the soil, can be an effective control.
double-check to use a suitable herbicide for your particular needs.
Some herbicides are selective, meaning somekill only grasses, while others kill only broadleaf plants.
Non-selective herbicides kill any plant they are sprayed upon.
Label your sprayer so you don’t use it for anything else.
Even a little herbicide residue can seriously injure your garden plants.
Using the wrong weeding tool.
It will save you re-weeding that weed later," says Nardozzi.
Goodhand tools for digging perennial rootsinclude a hori-hori knife and a dandelion weeder.
Adding insult to injury, some weeds, such as thistle and wild blackberry, have prickles.
Some weeds, such as stinging nettle andpoison ivy, may cause skin irritation.
Avoid painful punctures and rashes, especially when working with unfamiliar plants, by alwayswearing protective gloveswhile weeding.
Relying on landscape fabric.
Landscape fabrictopped with mulch has been touted as a long-term solution to control weeds.
Landscape fabric will make weeding harder in the long run for permanent plantings such as shrub borders orperennial gardens.
Removing landscape fabric after it has lost effectiveness is a far more arduous chore than regularly weeding the area.
Pull them as soon as you spot them growing, savingtime and effort.
Kathy Purdy atColdClimateGardening.comsays this is especially true of woody weeds.
“Putting off pulling woody seedlings of trees and shrubs is a big mistake.
So grab your gloves,comfy gardening stool, the right tools, and get to it!
When it comes to weeding, delaying this important task is always a mistake.
