With the start of the gardening season, hobby gardeners also begin their annual battle against weeds. But there are ways to prevent unwanted greenery and thus keep the effort for manual weeding to a minimum. Although some products may seem a bit complicated at first glance, in the long term they will make your garden much easier to care for.
How can you effectively prevent weeds in the garden?
Preventing weeds in the garden can be achieved by mulching, laying weed fleece, planting dense ground cover and regularly sweeping terraces and paths. These measures prevent weed growth and reduce the maintenance effort in the long term.
Measure 1: Mulching
Mulch so that the protective layer prevents weed seeds from sprouting and weeds from growing back. At the same time, the cultivated plants are supplied with additional nutrients. Before mulching, however, you should weed thoroughly so that strong weeds such as groundweed or dandelions do not grow through the mulch layer.
Suitable mulching materials are:
- Bark mulch
- Grass clippings
- home-chopped shrub cuttings
- Leaves
Measure 2: Lay weed fleece
If you create a new bed, you can use garden fleece to prevent weeds from settling in it. The films are offered in different thicknesses, tailored to the intended use.
- When laying, make sure that the individual strips overlap.
- Cut the fleece in a cross shape in the places where you want to plant useful or ornamental plants.
- Finally, cover the film with a visually appealing layer of mulch, for example made of bark material (€13.00 on Amazon) or gravel.
Measure 3: Underplanting with ground cover plants
If you plant the beds so densely that hardly any light reaches the soil, weeds will not find good growing conditions. Carpet-forming flowering plants that thrive between perennials and roses look very pretty in the flower bed.
Be sure to match the ground cover to the location and soil conditions. If the ornamental cushion plants grow well, you hardly have to worry about sprouting weeds in the summer months.
Measure 4: Sweep terraces and paths
Greenery growing in the cracks of patio tiles gives the property an unkempt look. Sweep the surfaces again and again and remove germinating sprouts immediately. The plants don't grow so big that they have to be laboriously removed with a joint scraper.
Tip
Regular mowing helps against lawn weeds. Fertilize the lawn sufficiently. This creates a dense carpet of roots and weeds have almost no chance of spreading through the greenery.
