weeds..how to rid the soil of general variety of weeds?

Question

The garden designer planted festuca and flax along with a few small non invasive plants.This was done on a clean dirt palate.He didn't prepare the soil only removed what was there and watered and placed the new plants in.I want to put rocks or bark around as a cover he told me not to do this. Now 2months later there are weeds growing around the flax and festuca. What can I do. Would small pebbles or bark look good and prevent weeds from reappearing after I pull them? thanks

Answer 1

After you pull the weeds you need to put down a pre-emergent weed preventer like Preen. Preen doesn't kill anything already growing--it just kills seeds at the time of germination. So if you can manually weed and clean the bed, then put down Preen (it lasts about 6-7 weeks) you shouldn't have a new crop of weeds. The Preen will prevent it. The down side is you can't grow any flowers there from seed either but it doesn't sound like that's part of your plan. You can get Preen in various sizes in most all L&G Centers. Customers at ours love it.

Answer 2

Whenever you have bare patches of soil in your garden, weeds will continue to grow. The trick is to leave no areas between the plants. This could be a cover of mulch or pebbles but these would only prevent weed growth temporarily. (weed seeds blow in and grow between the pebbles or bark chips.

If you are just waiting for the flax and festuca to fill out and fill all the gaps in the bed I would heavily mulch it with compost, hay, any mulch that will eventually break down; enriches the soil, and smothers the weeds. Unless the weeds have large roots or are particularly large, I wouldn't even weed just mulch over them it kills them. Apply thickly 4 to 5 inches.

If the design is such that it leaves large gaps between the plants you are always going to have this problem. I would buy more of the same plants already planted and plant between so no gaps are left for weed growth once the bed has matured.

You really shouldn't need the chemicals. The problem will always continue when there is space for weeds to grow.

Answer 3

more than likely there were seeds left in the soil from weeds...depending on the weed-some weeds if pulled will spring back from any root left in the ground-i prefer to cut them very close the ground and using a small water bottle sprayer with a mixture of 1/2 water/1/2 weed killer--the concentrated kind and spray after cutting the weeds...i always mix the solution alot stronger than what the directions call for because some weeds are very stubborn...i normally use Eliminator grass/weed killer concentrate also...much cheaper than weed b gone and other high dollar brands and works just a good...

keep a bucket of water with a cup inside handy just in case you accidently get some on a plant you want to keep..if this happens just pour some water over the affected plant to rinse it off....after spraying and the area is dry apply PREEN over the area ...this products stops most if not all seeds from sprouting in the area it is applied on and i believe it works for up to 3 mos...you may notice for a few days some weeds still sprouting but that is because the seed had already germinated before the preen was applied...preen only works on seeds that have not germinated

i did not do any of this to my flower beds this year and am regretting it...lol...i was spending my time with my old dog before i had to have her put sleep 3 wks ago and now i am regretting letting my flower beds get in such shape...lol...next yr i will do the above and get them back in shape to where they need very little care as far as weeding goes..i did this last year and they were virtually weed free all summer long but as always you will run into one or two stubborn weeds.

you can also put down 3-4 layers of newspapers after pulling the weeds then wet the papers after they are in place then add mulch...i only use mulch around newly planted trees and my rose bed because of the possiblity of attracting termites

only use the newprint part of the paper...never the shiny ads that come stuffed in so many of the papers

Answer 4

id use a bark mulch(pine, hoop pine, cypress, tea tree etc.), and yes they do stop many weeds (depending on how thick you apply it) pebble seem to get flicked around by the mower and peoples feet.

I would check how toxic that preen stuff is, because pre - emergents were banned in most nursery where i live(ronstar chemical)

The material safety data sheet has not been researched very well