General Info

As every landscaper knows, weeds are inevitable, but there are products and tools on the market that can give you some real ammunition in the battle against weeds in your landscape.

While you can certainly pull weeds from your landscape by hand, these products can save you time and effort. Let's look at a few.

Landscaping cloth is inexpensive and indispensable in the battle against landscape weeds. This fine plastic landscaping mesh is made to be laid down on bedding landscapes before planting in order to form a barrier to weeds trying to take root. Be certain to prepare your soil for landscaping and then lay the landscape cloth down over the area you want to cover. Pieces of wire bent into U-shapes can be used to anchor the landscape cloth edges to the ground. Once you have secured the mesh, you are ready to begin planting your bedding landscape.

The landscaping mesh cloth is easy to cut with a utility knife. Simply cut an X, lift out some of the soil and set the landscape plant into the ground. Fill soil back in around the plant and smooth the landscape cloth around the base. Cover with mulch and you now have a highly weed resistant bedding landscape.

Hoes, both large and small are great tools to keep around for removing weeds from your landscape. Smaller hoes are good for getting around tight areas in flower bed landscapes while rake style hoes are terrific for weeding larger areas like vegetable garden landscapes.

Sometimes the job may call for chemical weed killer. Herbicides can be somewhat effective when used correctly on weeds in your landscape. There are two main types. Pre-emergent herbicides stop weeds from even germinating because they form a gas barrier in the top layer of your landscape soil that the weeds can't penetrate. Be sure to water the herbicide in well to activate it.

Post-emergent weed killers eliminate established weeds. Some formulas target specific types of weeds, while others will kill anything sprayed on your landscape.

And don't forget, there is another weapon in your arsenal for battling weeds in your landscape; your local landscape company. Most landscaping businesses have a residential landscape division that provides weekly or monthly landscape maintenance to customers on a contract basis.

The battle against weeds in your landscape requires vigilance, but it will pay off in the satisfaction you'll feel every time you look at your lovely landscape.