Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Understanding What To Use To Kill Weeds Will Keep Your Garden Beautiful

By Claudine Hodges


Those who enjoy caring for a lawn and garden during the sunny summer months are most likely very familiar with the challenge of keeping one's property free of unwelcome and unsightly weeds. Learning what to use to kill weeds should be a top priority of anyone who wants to keep their flower beds and vegetable gardens looking their best and healthy. There are many easy tricks that can achieve this without relying on hazardous chemicals.

Simple as it may sound, pulling weeds is often necessary and one of the most effective ways to get rid of them. This must be done properly, or they can easily grow back. It's best done after watering since the soil will be moist, just dig down past the base of the weed until the end of its root system is located and pull out the entire plant, this garden refuse can then be added to the compost pile.

Suffocating these garden invaders is another way to eliminate them, when their sunlight is cut off they cannot survive. This can be accomplished by cutting old newspapers into wide strips and laying them on top of areas affected by weed growth and covering them with garden mulch. Several layers of newspapers may be needed, to prevent stronger weeds from poking through.

Commercial herbicides on the market often contain potentially hazardous chemicals, as an alternative to this, one can prepare a homemade weed killer that only contains safe ingredients. Mix together thoroughly two cups of white vinegar, one-half cup of salt, and several drops of dish soap, making sure the salt dissolves fully, pour into a spray bottle and spritz weed-growth with it. Make sure it does not come into contact with other plants or it may kill them.

Places such as the cracks between patio stones are susceptible to weed growth, and this can be easily remedied with salt. Either regular table salt or the rock salt used to stop ice from forming in winter both work well. Sprinkle it over the cracks, without it touching the lawn, and it will kill off weeds.

The heat of fire is a powerful natural weed-killer. This does not mean starting an actual fire, but rather simply passing a hot flame over the weedy areas, the heat effectively dries up the moisture within them, which causes them to shrivel up and die. Propane-powered weed scorchers designed for this purpose or regular, general-use blowtorches can both suffice for this purpose.

When designing the layout of an ornamental flower bed, with some know-how it's possible to discourage weeds from taking up root there in the first place. Some species of ground-covering plants work against weed growth, blocking out its access to water, sunlight, and nutrients, these include Majestic lilyturf, creeping thyme, and Walker's low catmint amongst others.

In order to prepare beds for fall planting, a method known as "solarizing" can be used in the summer. It kills weeds and prevents future growth. The soil must first be tilled and raked to remove debris, then an 8-inch deep trench must be dug around the bed's perimeter, next a clear, thin sheet of plastic will be laid over the bed, with its edges placed in the trench and covered up with soil. After 4 to 6 weeks, this plastic can be removed, the soil fertilized, and used for planting.




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