Al’s Gardening Tip of the Week – Weeding

Not only do weeds ruin the aesthetic of your garden, but they can also be harmful. They compete with your plants for water, sunlight and nutrients. There are several different methods to deal with weeds in your garden.

Landscape Fabric

Weed mats or landscape fabric can be used to keep weeds controlled. They are available in plastic, woven and paper varieties.

Weed Sprays

Liquid spray-on weed killers are available in both organic and conventional varieties for large areas, gravel paths and paver-covered patios and walkways.

Weeding Tools

Weeds are easiest to dispatch when young. If using tools and weeding mechanically, try to do this work early in the day, on a day when the temperature will rise and cause the small weeds to die from dehydration. It is not good to weed on an overcast day or before rainfall as this will help the weed to re-root and survive your attempts to eradicate them. Larger weeds are easier to pull after rain.

• Hoes are great weeding tools these include stir-up hoes, warren hoes, co-linear hoes and dutch hoes. These may have long or short handles.
• Dandelion weeders are designed specifically to help remove long tap-rooted types of weeds.
• A Cape Cod weeder, available in right or left-handed versions, is an excellent tool that can help you quickly remove stubborn well-rooted weeds.

Let Adams Garden Center staff help you choose the best option for you from their wide variety of tools, fabrics and sprays. Selection varies by store.

Read more of Al’s tips HERE