Battling Those Pesky Weeds

Unlike spring and early summer, the dog-days of August are not the most enjoyable in your flower garden. The irises look wilted, the black-eyed Susans are droopy and the peonies are hosting a family of grasshoppers.

And beneath them all the weeds are spreading like a cancer across the soil we so carefully tilled, smoothed and sifted just a few months ago.

Now some of you, no doubt, have no problem providing space in your garden for weeds, and that's fine with me. Others take the stance that a weed is any plant in the wrong place. A beautiful fragrance to one person is a cause of hay fever in another, right?

The fact is, however, that regardless how you define it a weed will deprive surrounding plants of water, nutrients, sunlight and space.

If, then, you want to minimize the number of weeds in your garden, what's the best approach?

Here are a few tips from our fellow gardeners:

1. Patrol your garden regularly. The longer you wait, the stronger they get. Trust me, you can pull weeds with a glass of wine in one hand.

2. Avoid toxic pesticides. They are dangerous to you, your pets and any child who goes chasing a ball into your yard. There are all-natural products available. Lots of chatter online now about household vinegar being an effective organic weed killer, so check it out.

3. Hoe weeds when they are young. Plucking them out of the soil before their roots are set and their seeds have formed will make your life easier next month.

4. Speaking of hoes, buy the long-handled variety so you are not forced to stoop over.

5. Deprive weeds of light and water and you will slow their growth. Kill large patches with black plastic; cutting off the leaves regularly with a weed-eater will also work. Rather than watering with a sprinkler, use a drip-hose to only apply water to your plants and not the weeds.

6. Mulch, mulch, mulch. In addition to blocking the light all weeds need, mulch will conserve water for your plants and will make pulling those weeds that do pop up much easier.

Good Luck!

- Bruce