Well spring is upon us, and I am trying todecide what to do with my mini-garden. Unfortunately, we in New England are cursed with two things:
-unpredictable spring weather (we can get killing frosts into May)
-WEEDS! The damn things are deep-rooted and tenacious, Often I have despaired, and saw weeds invade a nice bed ofcarefully planted flowers-and you can’t tear them out!
I wisk I could sterilize the soil (as greenhouses do), but this is not an option.
My objective: I want nice flower beds, free of weeds. Should I didtch the flowers entirely and go for ornamntal grasses instead?
I am not in the Northeast, but am in Iowa, and our springs can be a bit volatile, though we are generally at the “no risk - frost free” point by the end of April.
I am constantly fighting weeds in my beds.
Mulching with wood bark (I like cypress) helps suppress weeds, but we’re talking a good 4-5 inch layer. Any less than that, and you will still be dealing with a problem.
Have you ever considered using newspaper as a layer of mulch? Under the wood chips of course. It is much harder for weeds to come up through that, but it also will decompose, and lets in light and air better (and cheaper) than the landscape fabrics. YMMV.
I will spot treat with roundup (yes I know, I’m a bad person) ocassionally if I am having real problems. This does require extreme care, so that you don’t kill other things. I’ve used it (again as a spot treatment in flower beds - never in a bed for something edible) for years.
Plus, make sure you have the bed separated from your lawn so that the grass doesn’t spread in there. Like those cheap pound-in edgers - they are great and help keep out creeping charlie and other creepers. (ugly as hell, but I pound them all the way in, and then put a “pretty” edger on top.)
I still spend a lot of time weeding. But I’m ok with it, because its time outside in my garden enjoying it! The tips above have helped me get some problems more under control though.
Good luck and have fun!
I second the newspaper mulch idea. If you go with that idea, make sure you have your garden hose handy when you put it down. Soak it with water and you’ll spend a lot less time chasing newspaper all over your yard before you can get it covered with mulch. (Don’t ask me how I know this!)
There is another product – Preen – that prevents germination of weed (and other) seeds. You obviously don’t want to use it if you’re planting flowers from seed or if you have something that you’re counting on re-seeding itself (like cosmos or cleome).
Another option is containers. My brother-in-law created a very attractive display with containers of varying heights sitting on mulch, and it was extremely low maintenance. With containers, it’s easier to hit the random weed coming up through the mulch with Round-Up.
If you plant a mix of perennials and annuals, you’ll cut down on long-term expense (because you won’t have to buy as many annuals each year) and some work (like deadheading to keep the annuals flowering), and you’ll have a variety of things blooming at different times.
Good luck!
Weeds are omnipresent, no matter what your geographical locale. I use Preen as a weed preventative–it prevents germination and lasts (they say) about 6 weeks. I apply it in spring, mid summer and then in early fall. Be careful–it will set your ajuga back (but not kill it).
Gardening (for me) is an exercise in vigilance, once some victory over weeds/pests has been achieved. I do this by puttering in the garden (I use the term garden for my flower and planting beds–I don’t have a vegetable garden as such) almost every day. It’s much easier to pinch out a baby thistle than to deal with it once it has grown. It takes about an hour a day for me, but I have just under an acre of land.
I, too, have used Round-Up upon occasion. It is just about the only thing that will kill Stars-of-Bethlehem (and even it doesn’t work all that well). I only use it to spot treat true plant pests and then only sparingly.
You don’t say what part of New England you are from, but as you drive around, take note of what seems to do well in your neighborhood. Rudbeckia? Hydrangeas? Day lilies? All three, probably… Bulbs are an easy, simple and relatively cheap answer to spring flowering. Plant them every where–even (especially) under trees. By the time the trees leaf out, the bulbs will be done flowering and will be working on storing energy for next spring’s blooms. But don’t just look at what blooms where–look at where it blooms and see if you have a similar spot in your own garden. Are the blooms up against a brick wall? That means they’re warmed by the brick and possibly protected from the wind, so likely they bloom early (and die off earlier). Are the plants on the north side of the house or the south or west? It all matters when July comes around, with its blistering heat and long hours of sunshine etc. Ferns, hosta and pulmonaria are all good for shadier parts of the garden.
I recommend The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. She has an easy writing style, does not get to ambitious and also grows stuff in your area. Here’s a link to her book:
I have the first edition. Hope this helps. Oh, and put all those rocks you find in your soil to good use–use them as borders for flower beds. As a Midwesterner, I envy you your rocks. To get a large boulder into my yard (for decorative purposes) would cost me several hundred dollars, all in labor to lug the thing here.
I see freckafree has beat me to it. 
But also, start a compost pile somewhere in an unobtrusive spot.
Nice tips on the Preen - I’ll give it a go too! I am also a putterer!
My biggest weed problem (aside from creeping charlie) is round-leaf mallow, which came in with a load of horse manure. I have been fighting that crap for 5 years now. And because its in the veggie garden, I don’t use roundup. We’re gonna move the veggie garden this year, and nuke the old garden to try and wipe that crap out.
Not sure where I heard it, but allowing a weed to go to seed pretty much guarantees 7 years of dealing with weeds. Ugh. (I probably heard it in a nifty rhyme, but now only remember the gist of it.)
The bane of my existence is Star-of-Bethlehem aka Sleepy Dick. I hates it, I does.
sleepydick. Two years ago, I nuked it, bigtime. Nuking consisted of buying a flamethrower (I am not making this up) from a garden catalog (the flamethrower, which was marketed under a more innocuous name, has been taken off the market due to fire hazard…duh) and going out in the far back, which used to be S-o-B heaven and torching the shit out of it all. I am not a sadistic person, but by god, I enjoyed watching the waxy shoots shrivel and die… And it worked, for awhile. Now I see some that I missed already shooting up. Preen does nothing for S-o-B, more’s the pity.
I also know that black garden fabric, topped with a refrigerator box and held in place with rocks, does keep down most weeds. Of course, it’s unsightly as hell, but there comes a time when pretty doesn’t do it.