Lawn work never ends – and that goes double for weeding. But, while weeds can easily grow out of control and mar the perfect carpet of grass you’re trying to grow, the doesn’t mean you need to spend every weekend on your knees in the lawn, pulling them out.
Instead, attack weeds on multiple fronts. Remove weeds before they seed and take steps to keep new weeds from growing. Here’s how you can triumph over Mother Nature and keep your lawn healthy and weed-free.
1. Top Weeds Before They Seed
The reason why weeds are so pernicious and ubiquitous is because of something called the weed seed bank. The term refers to the tens of thousands of seeds that lie dormant in the soil of your lawn – seeds for dandelions, broadleaf and buckhorn plantains, dallis grass, carpet weed, chickweed, and more. Each time one of these weeds goes to seed in your yard, it releases hundreds of seeds, which contribute to the weed seed bank in your yard and ensure that next year, more of the offending plants will grow.
Killing off your weed seed bank is a slow process, because of its sheer size. You can start that process by minimizing the number of new deposits received each summer. Pull or top weeds before they have a change to seed, and you’ll see fewer and fewer weeds each year.
- Make Mulch Your Friend
Weed seeds germinate and young weeds flourish with sunlight, but if you cut off their access to light, you can stop them from growing. That’s just one reason why mulch is a gardener’s best friend – and if you have flower or vegetable garden beds, it should be yours, too. Keep weeds out of garden beds with a thick layer of mulch – two to three inches deep is ideal for smothering weeds, but more than three inches can deprive soil of the oxygen your cultivars need to grow.
- Minimize Soil Disturbance
The weed seed bank doesn’t just exist in the top layers of your soil – it extends far below the surface. While only those seeds in the top couple of inches will receive enough light to sprout, those seeds further down are just biding their time until they can get to the surface, too.
How do buried weed seeds get to the surface of your lawn? Soil disturbance is the culprit. Every time you dig into your lawn – whether to pull weeds or plant something new – seed-bearing soil from those under layers of your lawn is thrust up toward the surface. Keep digging and cultivating in your lawn to a minimum, and when pulling weeds, don’t just yank them out. Use a sharp knife to cut through the roots of weeds so that buried weed seeds stay buried.
- Pull Wet, Hoe Dry
If you’re pulling weeds from your lawn, the best time to do it is after a heavy rain. The soil will be softer, and you’ll pull weeds more easily.
However, if you’re hoeing weeds from a flower or vegetable patch, it’s best to do it when the soil is dry, and the sun is out. Garden bed soil isn’t as compact as lawn soil – it’s freshly tilled and aerated, and it doesn’t get much traffic, so weeds should be easy to remove even when the soil is dry. It’s easier to spread diseases from one plant to the next when the soil and roots are wet, so hoeing in dry conditions is safer for your plants. Spreading hoed weeds in the sun will cause them to wither and die quickly.
- Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicide
Another great way to keep weeds out of your lawn, and chip away at the weed seed bank, is to apply a pre-emergent herbicide like that offered by Trugreen lawn care as part of its lawn care packages. If you don’t use a lawn care service, you can apply pre-emergent herbicide yourself, but follow package instructions carefully. You don’t want to damage your lawn with improper application of herbicides.
Pre-emergent herbicide keeps weed seeds in the top inch or two of your lawn’s soil from sprouting. That means fewer hours spent hacking at dandelion roots and yanking at clumps of tall fescue. While it won’t kill weeds that have already sprouted, it can go a long way towards minimizing the number of weeds that appear in your lawn.
Weeds are nature’s way of keeping the earth green – but that doesn’t mean you want them in your lawn. Stay vigilant against weeds to keep your lawn healthy, so you and your family can enjoy your lush, thick, soft grass.
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