How Do I Prevent Weeds from Taking Over My Garden This Spring?

We are finally getting through the long, cold winter. Spring is upon us, and the warm sunny days are beginning to roll in.

Once we get outside to work in the yard we are going to want to spend our time concentrating on the yard and garden chores we like to do the most.

However, we also must prioritize getting ahead of what we do not want to do. Because we are referring to gardening, the problems we’re attempting to avoid may even sprout and continue to worsen. What I mean by that is weeds. Here’s how you can help protect your plants.

Since we are moving into the spring season, looking at the garden tasks like weed prevention, which most people do not find very enjoyable, the word dread comes to mind. We are talking about weed control, which is really almost a misnomer, because weeds are anything but controllable. Read on to learn what weed control is all about and how to successfully control those nasty buggers.

Use a Pre-Emergent Herbicide

Preventing weeds from germinating is the best approach. To do this, you must use pre-emergent herbicides. We have a few options within this category. There are lawn products and there are landscape bed products.

For the landscape beds, Dimension and Treflan are the two most common pre-emergent weed controls available. Treflan is the pre-emergent herbicide found in the widely used product Preen. Dimension is less familiar. It comes in a product called Hi-Yield Turf and Ornamental Weed Control. This is sold at independent garden centers. Preen: Available nearly everywhere garden products are sold.

The only major difference between these products, however, is longevity. If it rains normally, Dimension remains active for 120 days. Treflan has an active period of 90 days. No, this is considerable because you will need to mark a calendar reminder to re-apply these items adhering to this course of action. Effective weed prevention into summer and fall requires reapplication.

Another difference is that Treflan can be used in the vicinity of certain vegetables. Check the label and see what vegetables you can use this product around. The second you use this product, you are not growing organic. Organic pre-emergent weed control: corn gluten. This is good but will only work for 4-6 weeks. Abort is not applicable to vegetables.

Use a Post-Emergent Herbicide

The preferred method for controlling weeds is naturally weed prevention. The second choice is spraying with a post-emergent herbicide. This is the next best choice.

Spraying, however, is not always safe for desirable plants to do with existing plants.

Pull Out the Weeds

There is a third option: If you let the weeds grow up, you can pull up the weeds through the ground. You may not like this, because it may have been a punishment for you when you were a child.

Also, remember this when you’re pulling weeds: If you don’t get all the roots, the weed will come back.

Don’t Forget To Use a Systemic Insecticide

Right now is also a good time of the season to apply systemic insecticide to boxwoods for the prevention of certain damaging insects. Those might be leafing miners and psyllids. If you’ve witnessed your boxwood leaves brown out in early summer, you probably have these insects.

These are simple to treat insects, and it’s time to do so. Systemic insecticides come in a formulation for application as a soil drench. By this, they are combined together with water in a watering can or container. The height of the shrubs tells you how much you mix.

You use it by pouring the insecticide in the soil around the base of the plant. In the coming weeks, the insecticide will work its way through the plant. The minute the leaf miners and psyllids emerge from their eggs and begin feeding, they will be killed.

Boxwoods are also prone to the box tree moth, another insect infecting them. This insect will be unaffected by the systemic insecticide. This bug can often do far worse. No preventive controls exist.

Treat with a systemic to tackle the leaf miners and psyllids and keep your boxwoods as healthy as you can until they are fully free of disease. If it faces other challenges, it will be better to withstand them.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking at the prospect of dealing with weeds in your garden or lawn this spring and decide you do not want the hassle, give ASAP Sands Outdoor Services a call at 505-293-4014. We’ve been in the weed elmination business for over 40 years and we are the experts at providing top of the line Albuquerque weed control services.