Weeds – We all hate them, but we all have them.  I am going to share with you an easy way to kill weeds in your flower beds – it will work using either an organic or a chemical weed spray.   If done correctly there will be no more crawling around in your bed pulling weeds, no more aching backs or ruined manicures.

What you will need:

Your weed killer of choice mixed up in a sprayer, a large piece of cardboard and a helper.  You will be spraying weeds in your flower bed, but don’t panic…..done correctly it will not harm your plants or shrubs – and here’s why.

The Secret:

The poison is absorbed through the foliage of the weed – it travels down through the plant into the roots and kills it from the root up.  Think of the spray as a bullet.  If a bullet hits you – you die.  If the bullet zings past you – you are unharmed.  This works on the same principle.

The Fun Part:

So step into your flower bed and use the cardboard as a barrier between you and your “good” plants.  You can spray all around your bed by shielding your shrubs with the cardboard – this is where the helper comes into play.  They can maneuver the cardboard around your plants while you spray the weeds.  It doesn’t take very long to accomplish spraying even large beds.

This method is very effective on both nut grass and Bermuda grass along with other weeds.  Over a period of time the number of weeds that reappear will decrease.  If you combine spraying with broadcasting a pre-emergent weed killer throughout your flower bed quarterly you will eventually be almost weed free.

Tips and Hints: 

• When mixing your poison add a spreader sticker to your sprayer. This helps the poison stick to the weed and not drip off onto the ground so more poison is absorbed into the weed and it is killed faster.

   

• Choose a non-windy time to spray to help prevent overspray from floating through the air to good plants.

   

• If you do happen to spray a good plant by accident wash it off with the water hose. The plant could be cosmetically damaged but the root ball of the plant will not be effected.

   

• Do not weed eat prior to spraying since the foliage is what absorbs the poison.