Whether you have a garden apartment or a lush yard around your home, you run the risk of an unsightly invasion if weeds begin to appear. Weeds grow fast and spread easily. It’s important to go on the attack at their first appearance using any of these options for battle.
Chemical weed killers
Found in hardware and garden stores, chemical weed killers include a variety of products dedicated to targeting and killing weeds without harming your lawn.
With so many options, it’s a good idea to take the time to read labels in order to get just what you need. Think about whether you’re treating a small or large space, the types of weeds you’ve got and how environmentally friendly each choice is before making a final selection.
Specialty tools
For a more hands-on approach, consider purchasing a weed-fighting tool. Divided into short-handled and long-handled devices, which one you pick depends on whether you want to tackle your weeds standing up or face-to-face on the ground. Within these two categories are specific types of tools, including:
- Knives: Specially designed weeding knives typically have a dual-purpose blade. One side is smooth for slicing and the other stabs and saws using a serrated edge. Both sides help to pry weeds completely out of the ground.
- Weeders: Primarily named after their overall design, weeders come in Fishtail, CobraHead, Dee, any Cape Cod styles, among others. Each design is unique but essentially works to dig the weed out at the root.
- Hoes: While this tool can have multiple functions in a generic sense, such as helping to till soil or prepare a garden for planting, the Dutch Hoe has a unique design which enables the blade to slip under the soil, breaking up and cutting away weeds.
- Fire: Flame weeding attacks with intense heat using a fuel-bringing tool that’s often hand-held. Take down weeds with a carefully controlled and direct flame, which passes over them. While fun, this process can take a few applications to achieve complete success.
Homemade remedies
If you’d rather take a more natural approach to removing weeds from your green space, go homemade. These remedies are as simple as pulling or digging up the weeds by the roots, drying them out in the sun, tossing them in boiling water and pouring it over weed stems and leaves.
But you can also concoct your own all-natural herbicide at home using easy-to-find ingredients.
- Dissolve one part table salt into eight parts hot water with just a touch of liquid dish soap. The soap helps the solution stick to the leaves as you spray it. Focus your application directly onto the leaves and minimize contact with soil.
- Fill up a spray bottle with white vinegar at full strength and spray onto leaves, avoiding the ground as much as possible.
- Combine 10 ounces of Borax, a common laundry detergent and cleaning product, with 2.5 gallons of water and load into a spray bottle. Again, coat the leaves with this remedy, but for this one, wear protective gloves. You don’t want this on your skin.
Once they’re gone, keep weeds away
Now that you’ve successfully rid your lawn of weeds, it’s time to keep them away with a few easy tips. Apply a chemical weed suppressant regularly to your yard.
If you’d rather avoid chemicals, mulch or any weed-suppressing layer of fabric or plastic can serve the same purpose as the chemical treatment. Mulch goes on top of the ground to suffocate weed growth while the other materials are often covered by soil.
If weeds popped up between landscaping, consider adding in more plants so the area becomes denser. The environment then becomes less attractive for weeds.
They’re strong little invaders, but with the right strategy, you can win the fight against weeds and keep your patch of the outdoors looking beautiful.
Banner Photo by Jason Long on Unsplash
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