Is your lawn patchy and full of weeds? Are you looking for effective ways to eliminate unwanted plants in your landscape? Or perhaps you’re wondering how to stop weeds from growing in your landscape in the first place.
In this post, we’ll discuss ways to handle weeds taking over your landscape.
Nine Ways to Handle Weeds Taking Over Your Landscape
1. Identify the Weeds in Your Yard
Before you pull weeds out with your bare hands or douse them in chemicals or organic products, you have to know what type of unwanted plant you’re dealing with. This step is needed to create a weed control plan that’s effective against the weeds you have.
Weeds come in different types, but you are likely dealing with either broadleaf or grassy types. Broadleaf weeds are pretty easy to distinguish because they usually grow large and stand out. Their leaves have distinctive patterns, and they often feature showy flowers. Examples of broadleaf weeds are dandelion, clover, and ground ivy.
Some broadleaf weeds, like dandelions, can be useful. For instance, dandelion flowers can be eaten and their leaves used for consumption or herbal medicine.
On the other hand, grassy leaves resemble grass. What differentiates them from grass is their parallel veins running through the leaves. Plants that fall under this category are bluegrass, crabgrass, and quackgrass, to name a few.
These weeds are either perennial or annual. Annual weeds grow and die each year, which makes them easier to control. Sometimes, all you need is a pre-emergent weed killer to prevent annual weeds from growing.
On the other hand, perennial weeds can survive for many years, so they are challenging to eliminate. They may lie dormant at certain times of the year, so there are times you won’t see them.
2. Use Organic Products When Possible
After you have identified the weed, the next step in lawn weed control is choosing an herbicide. Choose a herbicide specifically formulated for the type of weed growing in your landscape.
Generally, you have two weed-killer options: organic and synthetic. Synthetic weed control products dominate the market and are affordable. They are also effective in eliminating weeds but have certain disadvantages.
Some herbicides are non-biodegradable, slightly toxic, and can cause illnesses. They can also be carried into streams or leached underground, polluting bodies of water and water supplies. If animals eat plants treated with herbicides, they can also get sick or pass the chemical up the food chain.
If possible, consider switching to natural products. If you’re wondering how to kill weeds without killing the landscaping, this is the answer. Organic weed control may not be the most pocket-friendly option, but it will protect you, your pets, and the environment from the harsh effects of herbicides.
3. Mow Regularly at the Right Height
You probably mow your lawn to make it look better. But did you know that regular mowing at the right height is also one of the ways to keep weeds at bay?
Think of your lawn as a forest. When you cut trees in a forest, many different plants grow because they can access sunlight and more nutrients from the soil. But as trees get bigger, smaller plants receive less sunlight and nutrients, so they cannot thrive. This concept can be applied to lawns.
As your lawn grass grows in density and height, it prevents the sunlight from reaching the soil. As you know, seeds from weeds need sunlight and proper temperatures to germinate and grow. If sunlight does not penetrate your turf canopy, seeds will not germinate.
However, it’s a bad idea to grow your turf grass too long. It won’t look pleasant, and the grass will have difficulty holding itself up. The key is cutting the grass about three inches high. You may increase the height in the summer.
4. Remove Weed Seeds From Your Clothes and Shoes
Some weed seeds can stick to your clothes and shoes, allowing them to navigate along with you until you remove them. These seeds will hitchhike to locate the next suitable place to grow a new generation. So, if you have been in places with flowering weeds, check your clothes and shoes for sticking seeds before going into your yard.
If there are seeds on or in your clothes, you can get rid of them by using a washing machine. If washing isn’t effective, you may need to resort to manual removal using a flat comb, tweezers, or duct tape.
5. Take Advantage of Mulches and Other Soil Amendments
Adding mulch and other soil amendments is another simple yet effective way of suppressing weeds. A nice, thick layer of mulch prevents weed growth in two ways. First, the mulch deprives seeds of essential sunlight by thoroughly covering the soil. Second, mulch prevents the seeds from coming in contact with the soil, which is what they need to germinate.
In addition to weed control, mulching offers many other benefits, like helping your soil retain consistent moisture content, keeping the soil cooler on hot days, and slowly increasing soil fertility. But to reap all these benefits, you have to be careful of the quantity of mulch you apply; too much of it can suffocate and bury your grass.
6. Pull Out Weeds by Hand
Manual weeding remains an effective method of preventing weed invasion. But there are a few things you need to remember when hand-pulling weeds.
First, remove weeds while they are still young, and make sure to remove everything, including the roots, rhizomes, and other underground parts. If you are dealing with dandelions, you can use tools specially designed for hand-pulling this particular weed.
7. Dethatch and Aerate Your Lawn
Aerating and dethatching are two of the best types of natural weed control. These treatments stop weed growth by improving the flow of nutrients in your lawn. Dethatching involves cutting away a layer of dead and living grass, roots, and moss, helping your lawn breathe.
On the other hand, aeration involves punching holes in the soil using an aerator. Creating tiny holes allows oxygen into the soil so the lawn receives the nutrients it needs to grow healthy new grass.
8. Resod or Reseed Your Lawn
This is the last step in restoring the lusciousness and beauty of your weed-invaded lawn. If you want pre-germinated grass at any time of the year, re-sodding is the ideal option. However, sod tends to be more costly than seeding. Reseeding also offers more variety, but it takes longer to germinate.
9. Keep Your Lawn Healthy
Once you’ve successfully controlled weeds in your lawn, the next thing to do is to ensure your lawn is properly maintained and healthy. The healthier the grass is, the better it will choke out weeds.
In addition to mowing at the right height, other ways to keep your lawn healthy include watering deeply and infrequently, applying organic fertilizers, and improving soil quality.
You should also perform landscape weeding to prevent weeds in other landscapes from reaching your lawn.
Consider Professional Weed Control
Having thick weeds in your landscape and bald patches of grass despite your weed control efforts can all be indications you need professional lawn care services. Lawn care professionals are knowledgeable and can determine the root cause and ideal treatment plan for your weed problem.
More often than not, weed control and overall lawn care require consistent effort, which can be daunting, especially if you have many other important things to do. By hiring a professional lawn care company, you don’t need to spend your valuable time caring for your lawn.
With LawnMart by your side, you can be sure your lawn will grow healthy and weed-free. The team focuses on hitting the weeds hard on every visit. Free service calls are also available, so if our treatment doesn’t take out the majority of the weeds, we’ll be back to hit them again. And as organic lawn care experts, you don’t have to worry about any adverse effects of the products used.
Contact LawnMart to learn more about how to get rid of weeds in your lawn or get a free quote today.