Gardening doesn't just involve planting new plants and mowing the lawn weekly. Beforehand and at regular intervals, weeds that can rob other plants of the nutrients must be thoroughly removed. If you approach the matter incorrectly, this can become very tedious, especially on large areas. With our environmentally friendly tips, the fight is guaranteed to succeed.

Mulch protects against weeds in an ecological way

tool list

In order for the work to go smoothly, you should have the right tool at hand:

  • stable, sharp spade
  • digging fork
  • weed film
  • mulching material
  • weeder
  • mowing machine
  • mulch paper or newspaper
  • gas burner

Dig up beds carefully

If you want to create a new bed or if weeds have gained the upper hand in a bed area, you should take the trouble to dig up the entire area. Into the bed
Grown lawn and weed seeds you bring deep underground, where everything slowly rots to humus. Root weeds, on the other hand, are carefully sorted out, because fresh green develops in these plants even from the smallest root remains.

Trenches - because double is better

Deep digging (digging, deep culture) is recommended when creating new beds. The earth is not only dug up a spade blade, but two spade blades deep. As a result, the green of weeds and lawn gets particularly deep into the ground. The weed seeds contained in the top layer also migrate downwards and can no longer sprout due to the lack of light.

Caution: You should not step on deeply loosened beds, as this will compact the laboriously loosened soil again. Therefore, create narrow, longer beds, the middle of which you can easily reach.

Dark films do not allow the seed to germinate

Like all plants, weeds need a lot of light to grow. If you have a little patience and don't want to plant the bed immediately, you can spread a dark tarpaulin over the ground and attach it to the corners with earth hooks or stones. As a result, the plants die reliably, rot and form a valuable layer of mulch.

Weed fleece, a great helper in the fight against weeds

However, weed seeds remain germinable for a long time even under the film. If weeds have already spread a lot, it is therefore advisable to also use special weed fleece when laying out the bed.

  • Cover the bed that has been cleared of weeds and thoroughly loosened with the fleece and fix it with plastic anchors.
  • Cut a cross in the fleece where plants are to be planted.
  • Insert the plants and place the fleece tightly around the plant again so that no weeds can sprout here either.
  • So that the weed fleece (€21.70) blends in with the natural environment, you can finally cover it with a thin layer of mulch or soil.

Mulch reliably suppresses weeds

If the bed is already planted and regular weeding becomes a Sisyphean task, you can effectively suppress weeds with a layer of mulch. The following are suitable as mulch material:

  • Lawn and tree trimming
  • vegetable residues
  • cover crops
  • leaves
  • bark mulch
  • bark compost
  • wood chip
  • Miscanthus chaff (shredded Chinese reed)
  • straw
  • pine bark
  • river gravel or grit

The mulch layer not only has a weed-inhibiting, temperature-balancing and moisture-regulating effect. It also prevents weed seeds from germinating. In addition, the organic material slowly decomposes and enriches the soil with humus.

Cover with mulch or newspaper

Covering with newspaper or mulch also suppresses weed growth and germination. Especially in vegetable beds, special mulch paper is the method of choice, which has also proven itself in commercial cultivation and on very large bed areas.

It slowly rots after about six weeks, but the weed-suppressing mulch effect lasts for about three months. The material is simply dug under in autumn and forms valuable humus.

In exceptional cases, you can also use newspaper. However, the paints contain heavy metals that get into the soil when they rot. So use newspapers with caution.

Remove weeds from the lawn

If you have to remove weeds such as dandelions from the lawn over a large area, you should not simply pull them out. If some of the taproots remain in the ground, the plants will continue to develop anew. For this reason, dig out the roots deeply with a weed picker. This is tedious for large areas, but brings the desired success in the long term.

You should mow regularly to prevent weeds from growing in the lawn in the first place. As a result, weeds are weakened and cannot form seed heads that would ensure further spread.

Remove weeds from patios and paths

Here, too, weeds find the best growth conditions, unless you keep reaching for the joint scraper. With a gas burner, these can be flamed off effortlessly and in a relatively short time. However, this only destroys the superficial green, the deep roots usually sprout again quickly.

In the long term, it makes more sense to first thoroughly remove all weeds from the crevices. If you then sweep it again with special joint sand against weeds, weeds can no longer settle.

tips

Digging is not only a good measure in the fight against weeds, but also in terms of snail control. The clutches are destroyed and brought deep underground, where they inevitably die.

Category:

Herbs