Is there anyway to keep weeds out of a flower bed?

Question

We live in a townhome community and the association takes care of mowing grass but not weeding. We have one flower bed out front that we have tried putting down the heavy landscaping plastic and piling mulch high but no matter what we have weeds. We are an older couple and keeping it weed free is hard. I'm afraid Roundup would also kill the shrubs. Any ideas?

ADDED INFO: We have no plants in it. Just the shrubs that were always there. So we're not trying to worry with flowers. Just want the weeds gone!

Answer 1

Well its alot of work, but so worth it, you will need a roll of Weed Guard, you put this on the ground preferably before you plant for easiest installation, if you have already planted, you will need to cut holes for the plants to fit through or go around it. Then on top of this Weed Guard you can put pine nuggets or cedar chips, this works dually to keep out weeds.

Answer 2

Weed fabric under the mulch will help but will not stop weeds completely. I have a lot of flower beds in my yard and can't keep the weeds out no matter what i do. The problem is that over time dirt, decaying mulch and plant matter will form a sort of compost over the weed fabric and that's where the weeds come from ( not from under the fabric ). So the only way to eliminate that is to completely clean out the mulch and replace it every year. That may work if you have one small bed, but if you have many large beds like I do that is very costly and time consuming. As for using rock in the beds, we have tried that and it looks good but won't stop weeds either. Also it is harder to clean out the debris and weeds from rock than mulch. So we did away with the rock. You can use Roundup on the weeds in the beds, but you have to be careful of nearby plants. Roundup will only kill what it touches, so using it on windy days is not advised, as the over spray can damage your plants. I use it only occasionally in our beds. Normally I just remove weeds by hand and keep mulch at about 4 inches deep. The less sun that can reach the fabric the less weeds will grow. Weeds are just part of life and we deal with them the best we can, good luck to you.

Answer 3

The more things you plant in an area and keep it full of flowers, there won't be much room for weeds to grow. Plant some perrenials that will come up every year and then some annuals. But leave very little room for weeds to grow. As far as a weed killer. they are made to not kill the other things around them and plus they make sprays that have little spry nozzles that u can pinpoint exactly where u want to spray so you won't get it on anything else.

Answer 4

Roundup only kills when it gets on the leaves. Depending on the layout, you could carefully spray only on the weeds.

Other than that, mulch would be your best bet. That and simply pulling weeds. If you don't have the energy yourselves, maybe you can pay neighborhood kids to do it -- similar to paying a kid to mow your yard. Of course, you'll probably want to be out there with them to make sure they don't pull out the plants you want to keep!

Answer 5

My husband and I are older retired people too so I know what you are talking about. It gets harder with each passing year, doesn't it!?!

How about doing away with your flower bed and let the lawn take over.

For flowers, do what we do which is buy containers (pots) that are 14" across the top,
fill with 25 lbs of good potting soil (we use Miracle-Gro with Plant Food),
dig in some slow-release fertilizer (we use Osmocote) and water in well,
plant your flowers.

No bending, no weeds, nothing to do but water.

I think we have five 14" containers and three long containers.

Here is one that you will like and a booklet comes with it.....you can buy the complete kit which has soil and fertilizer, or just the box:
http://www.earthbox.com

Go to this website for combinations of plants that look good together:
http://www.fernlea.com/awesomeaccents/recipes.html

Answer 6

Hire a neighborhood kid to pull the weeds if you are unable to do it yourself. There is nothing to keep weeds out other than manual labor or try spot killing with a weed killer. Keep it far away from the shrubs.

Answer 7

I read online one time that you put down some newspaper under the mulch and soak it in water, it helps to kill the weeks. If I were put, I would put down the layer of plastic, then some newspaper, then top it off with mulch and see how that helps.

Answer 8

what you can do, if possible, is to (when its spring time.)
Get some liner, or an old carpet will do it. Pull up your plants gently, lay the liner or carpet over your flower bed, then where you want put your plants, cut holes in the liner or carpet and put your plants back in. This will smother the weeds but you can still have your plants ect. use the bark mulch or agrigate to hide the liner or carpet. cheap and easy.

Answer 9

I find that planting many plants close together eliminates a lot of weeding ,and of course as soon as soon as you see the weeds pull them out by the roots!

Answer 10

JMaybe taked all your flowers out carefully and get the dirt off and put newspaper or or something, that might work.