How to Keep Your Garden Weed Free

I finally found a way to keep my garden weed free!

I usually struggle with staying ahead of all the weeds that grow in my vegetable and flower gardens. Last year, I let the weeds grow so large you couldn’t tell what were plants I purposely planted and weeds. I knew this year I needed to do something different.

When weeds grow too large, they compete with the plants in your garden. Weeds need moisture, nutrients and sunlight just like your plants. If your weeds get out of control, unfortunately your plants will suffer.

I did some reading and research to figure out how I could manage my weed situation better this year. That's when I learnt about mulching. 

Mulching 

Mulching is a method you use to cover the dirt to prevent weeds from growing. As weeds need sunlight to grow, they can’t grove when they are covered.

Make sure your plants have established themselves a couple inches above ground before you mulch, otherwise they won’t grow either. 

What to Use as Mulch

You can use a variety of items for mulch. A simple, free material to use a mulch are grass clippings from your lawn. Once you mow your lawn, dump your grass onto your garden bed. Spread them out over your garden, thick enough so you can’t see the dirt.

Weed First

If you already have weeds growing before you decide to mulch, you’ll need to pull these out. Otherwise, they’ll continue to grow after you mulch unless you lay the mulch on thick to block out the sunlight.

Other Benefits to Mulching

• Keeps the moisture in the dirt so you need to water less
• Can be organic which adds nutrients to you garden as it decomposes
• Maintains soil temperature
• Can be found free
• Softer and cleaner on your feet when you walk on it

Ensure the grass you use as mulch doesn’t have any chemicals sprayed on it. You don’t want any lawn chemicals in your garden.

As grass clippings can get matted down quickly and prevent water from getting through to your plants, you will want to “fluff” it up occasionally so your plants don’t suffer. Once the plant gets large, you may want to pull the mulch back away from the stem so the water can get through to the roots.

Do you have many weeds in your garden? Have you ever used grass clippings as mulch in your garden? Let me know in the comments.

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