Your garden beds can be flower-full and weed-free with the proper preparation.
When you are preparing your garden bed for planting, the digging and raking also stirs up dormant weeds waiting for room to grow. Applying a weed preventer now will stop weed seeds from growing and make your flower beds weed-free all season.
After applying a weed preventer over the ground, spread a blanket of mulch around your plants. It blocks the sunlight, preventing weeds from growing.
Mulch also saves money on water. A thick blanket of mulch reduces evaporation, so you don’t have to water as much.
Plus, your flower beds look crisp and clean with a finishing touch of mulch.
How to Apply Weed Preventer to Your Flower Beds:
- Before applying any weed preventer, hand pull any large weeds. Rake the smaller weeds to loosen them from the soil and discard.
- Apply the weed preventer throughout your garden bed, according to the package instructions.
- Lightly water a granular weed control before mulching.
- If your garden bed is already mulched, use a topical weed preventer and water the mulch to ensure the weed preventer evenly spreads.
- Some weed preventers can be used several times in the growing season. Check package instructions for application frequency.
How to Choose and Use the Right Mulch for Your Flowers:
- Choose the right mulch:
- To improve your soil and add nutrients to your garden, use compost.
- For natural-looking mulch, use shredded bark, bark nuggets or pine straw. Bonus: Pine straw is good for acid-loving plants like azaleas.
- For an informal-looking mulch, use wood chips. They last a long time but can take nitrogen from the soil as they break down. Save them for use around big shrubs.
- For a low-maintenance mulch, use lava rocks, gravel or pebbles. Be careful. Dark stones absorb heat and light ones reflect sunlight so they can overheat plants in hot weather.
- Apply at least 2-3” of mulch either by hand or with a trowel, garden fork or shovel. Keep mulch away from plant trunks or stems, where pests or diseases hide.
- Add more mulch if it breaks down or starts to look thin.
Product Checklist:
- Rake
- Weed preventer
- Watering can or hose
- Mulch
- Trowel, garden fork or shovel
- Optional: Garden gloves