Weeds are by far any gardeners’ enemy number one. Some weeds are tough and will need more than one form of attack.
You have probably spent quite some time devising ways on getting rid of garden weeds once and for all. It is possible that you have not yet found a reliable long-term solution. Not all weeds will respond in the same way to the same treatment. This article will introduce you to four different ways to attack even the most stubborn of weeds.
Learn about several purely natural methods, without the use of chemicals or suspicious sprays, and take full control of your own garden.
And if you have some great battle tactics of your own, we would love to get your feedback.
In early spring, weeds are polite, if enthusiastic, garden companions—but by the middle of summer they take on a whole new persona, growing so fast you can almost see them expand, rudely elbowing and overtaking your garden plants, and even threatening to take over your house if you leave for more than a few hours………..
A prime concern for controlling weed problems in the long term is not allowing them to go to seed! Off with their heads! Mow, string-trim, scythe, or hire goats—just get them cut down to size before any flowers open. One mowing won’t kill weeds with perennial roots, and even some of the annuals will regrow and try to flower again, but mowing is better than nothing, and when you do it periodically the short regrowth becomes a living mulch that helps protects your soil from wind and water…………
If you have any bare soil that gets sunlight and moisture, it will soon be home to sprouting weeds. The easiest way to prevent new weeds from sprouting from the many weed seeds sleeping in your soil is to keep the sun from hitting them and waking them up. Keeping the sun off older plants will also eventfully starve them to death (the more food they have stored underground, the longer the starvation takes—even years in some cases)…………..
So what about all those annoying weeds that pop up in places you can’t mow or mulch, such as in narrow cracks in your sidewalk or patio or intertwined with your perennials’ or shrubs’ roots………
Boiling water. If you have just a few cracks to deal with, just boil water in your tea kettle and pour a scalding stream along the crack to cook the roots. The weeds should be dead by the next day.
Flame-weeding. For larger areas, you may want to consider getting a special propane torch with a long handle called a flamer or a weed torch. No, you aren’t going to burn the weeds (and if they are dry enough to burn you shouldn’t even be thinking of firing up this tool); but waved over short green weeds for just long enough to cook them, a flame weeder is an amazing tool for keeping cracks, and even permanent fence lines, weed free. …………
In the past few decades, an increasing number of commercial products have been developed that kill plants on contact but are pretty much harmless once applied. Unlike the strongest and most notorious synthetic herbicides, these organic sprays are not taken up by the plant and are natural substances that break down rapidly in the environment.
This does NOT, however, mean you can’t hurt yourself with them in concentrated form. Read and follow all label cautions! ………….
Source: Find the full article in www.rodalesorganiclife.com
Image Source: The image is from Petite Garden Center
