SAFE & NATURAL WEED CONTROL FOR GARDENS

Have you ever had a weed problem in your gardens?  Chemical herbicides have been used by millions because they are easily available, work fast and relatively simple to apply.   Who doesn’t like instant gratification?  The thought of hand weeding a garden overtaken by thistle makes one quiver. The convenience of chemical weed control is alluring, but the repercussions of such use have been devastating to humans and our natural environment. It has been confirmed that many chemicals found in common household herbicides contain carcinogens that are proven harmful to humans, animals, insects and aquatic life.  Everything we put on our soils eventually gets in to our limited water supply.  In striving to become better stewards of our land, we should cast aside toxic chemical herbicides for safer alternatives to pest and weed control.  For the safety of our precious children, soil and water, we must work together to practice and promote natural solutions to common gardening challenges such as weed reduction. 

Naturally, at Marvin’s Organic Gardens we approach weed control with safer alternatives.  We use and sell two natural, safe and easy-to-apply weed control sprays called Burn Out and Natures Avenger, that both burn weeds back quickly when used as directed.  For total kill, the weeds may need to be sprayed a few times, and usually burn better the more sun they receive.  Neither of these natural weed killers are harmful to humans, animals or aquatic life when used properly. Both Burn Out and Natures Avenger are broad spectrum, so they will burn back almost any weed or plant sprayed. 

For larger beds areas that have been overrun with weeds, we like to smother them with recycled newspaper.  If you have a weed problem where spraying or hand pulling is not affective, start by weed whipping or hand pruning all weeds to the ground and leaving the cuttings in your bed area.  The next step is to soak a stack of newspaper in a wheelbarrow or bucket until the newspaper is saturated.  Lay the wet newspaper at least five layers thick across all bed areas not occupied with desirable plants.  Make sure that the newspaper overlaps itself  8” to 10” so that no weeds slip through the gaps.  Abut the newspaper directly against perennials, shrubs and trees to keep weeds from coming up through the base of the plants.  If you have an irrigation system, double the layers of newspaper to 10 or more, because wet newspaper becomes soggy and will allow weeds to poke right through if the layers are not thick enough. The final step is to apply mulch at a normal application rate a top newspaper areas.  Even the most severe weed problem can be controlled by this method if repeated a few times.

Mulching helps to keeps weed out of our gardens, but must be applied every year.  Try ornamental gravel as a permanent mulch.  First lay and stake into position a durable and breathable weed prevention fabric a top all bed areas in between plants.  Install a simple stone, block, plastic or aluminum edge around the bed area as a gravel barrier, and install gravel to at least a 3” rate.  Although gravel mulch may cost more initially, it usually pays for itself in three seasons and keeps weeds out affectively with little aftercare.  There are several mulch colored gravels on the market that compliment most garden settings. 

Lastly, by selecting thick growing plants, one can help to reduce weeds in the garden.  The more surface area in your gardens that are covered by tightly growing perennials, shrubs and trees, the fewer weeds you will have to fight.  Be sure to fertilize your garden plants.  It is far safer to strengthen desired plants with fertility than to weaken weeds with harmful chemicals.  As an added weed control measure, apply our corn-based preemergent weed control anytime of the year over the entire bed area, which fertilizes plants and reduces the number of weed seeds in the garden.