Weeds are a gardener’s nightmare. They make the garden look messy, take up space, and hamper the growth of your plants. One of the biggest problems with weeding is the sheer amount of time it takes to get rid of all the weeds. You could spend hours tediously pulling them out, and they may grow back in a day or two anyway.
However, weeding isn’t impossible. You need a little help to hold them back long enough to do what you need.
Here are several ways to prevent weeds from growing in your garden.
1. Make Use of Tarps
Tarps are great for when you’ve got a large area to cover. You can lay one down over the ground you want to protect from weeds, and it should last for a while until you need to replace it.
Before laying the tarp down, ensure the entire area is clean. Also, be sure to level your garden so that the tarp doesn’t cause any stress on your plants’ roots.
Heavy duty tarps are great for large-scale jobs when you don’t have the time and energy to deal with weeding. It’s also a good idea to reinforce the area with rocks or other materials to prevent it from blowing away.
2. Make Use of Cover Crops
Cover crops are plants you sow in the garden to cover your soil. They are perfect for preventing weed and soil erosion and provide a great source of soil nutrients. You can use various cover crops, but the most common include clover, oats, buckwheat, fenugreek, and mustard.
These plants will grow fast enough to protect your garden from weeds while you’re focusing on other tasks. Their deep root system can prevent new weeds from growing as well.
3. Create a Physical Barrier
A thin layer of crushed rocks or small gravels can stop weeds from growing between the rows of your garden. To make it more effective, you can also put straws between the rocks to prevent weeds from growing through them.
It’s important to remember that this layer is an additional barrier that should be kept as thin as possible. That is because it could put stress on the roots of your plants.
4. Use a Pre-Emergent Herbicide
Pre-emergent weed killers are chemicals that prevent weeds from growing. They act like other natural weeds-killers, but they are designed to stop the growth of weeds before they ever appear.
There are several pre-emergents, some of which can be applied every seven days for a week and then again once you start seeds in your garden. The best pre-emergent herbicides will kill most of the weeds that appear before they’ve had a chance to take hold. These materials will also protect your garden from Post-emergent herbicides.
5. Get to Pulling
Pulling weeds may seem tedious, but it is the most effective long-term way to stop weeds from growing in your garden. It is helpful if you’ve recently worked the ground or if you’re trying to get rid of specific species of weeds that grow in your garden.
However, this method will require some time and work on your part, so it isn’t for everyone. This method is also suitable for removing any root system that might have formed before you started using the other methods listed here. That is because if the root is left in the ground, it’ll regrow again.
6. Use Mulch
Mulching is an effortless way to keep weeds from growing. It involves spreading a layer of shredded barks and leaves over your garden to block light from landing on your soil. This suffocates the existing weeds and prevents new ones from growing.
However, when layering barks and leaves, ensure you don’t put too much on your plants. Despite the plant’s ability to grow through them, weeds can interfere with the roots of your plants.
That’s why it is recommended that you plant your garden in a raised bed, so you don’t have to dig for more weeds underneath the new layer you’ve created. The thickness of your mulch layer should be at least three inches.
Conclusion
If you think about it, there isn’t any reason weeds should be a problem in your garden. Using these methods, you can keep them from getting started in the first place.
