Pro Tips From The Garden Fairy: Weed Warfare

Weeds are no friend of your garden- they are H2O thieves, food drains as well as sunlight hogs, hence gardeners should hold out able to position as well as command them. After studying weeds for a total semester at UCONN, I spent 2 of my college summers working for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station amongst weed scientist doc Todd Mervosh. Those experiences conduct hold led me to conclude that all weeds autumn into i of 3 categories: annual, perennial, as well as total nightmare. 

Julie Harrison is a horticulture expert, landscape artist, garden designer as well as regularly featured contributor on the CBS affiliate, WFSB Channel 3 Better Connecticut's Better Gardens. More nearly Julie at her website,  Natural Elegance Design!

GIVEAWAY!

ends 6/17/16 9pm EST

Enter to WIN a Brinsea EcoGlow twenty Chick Brooder!

Learn nearly the EcoGlow, a rubber choice to unsafe rut lamps, HERE.

ENTRY DETAILS BELOW!

(click on "read more" if necessary, as well as hence scroll all the agency down)

ANNUAL WEEDS

Annual weeds consummate their life-cycle inwards i growing season. H5N1 few mutual weeds are: Ragweed, Crabgrass, as well as Purslane. Mulching as well as hand-pulling keeps annual weeds inwards check. Mulching is a preventative as well as works past times shading the soil hence that the weed seed is less probable to germinate. Hand-pulling annual weeds earlier seed heads prepare or mature prevents it from dropping hundreds of novel seeds that volition stem y'all adjacent year. H5N1 weed inwards fourth dimension prevents nine (hundred).

Common Ragweed looks innocent enough, but its flowers create the pollen that incorrectly gives goldenrod a bad name. The flowers of ragweed are inconspicuous patch goldenrod has brilliant yellowish floral plumes. Since both weeds blossom at the same time, goldenrod gets blamed for allergy flare ups instead of the truthful offender, Ragweed.

Compared to most lawn grasses, Crabgrass is to a greater extent than yellow-green. Crabgrass is a self-seeding annual weed. With every industrial plant life pulled, there’s promise that I’m putting a pocket-size dent inwards the Crabgrass seed population. Purslane falls inwards concluding position on my listing of annoying weeds. It’s a low-grower that tin shade out other to a greater extent than obnoxious weeds from growing, as well as it’s edible! The texture as well as flavor pf Purselane are similar to spinach; I similar it raw inwards salads.

PERENNIAL WEEDS

Perennial weeds homecoming each year. Once they brand themselves at home, they tend to hold out a piddling pushy, so you’ve got to remain on transcend of them or they'll accept over. Remove every combat possible, transcend foliage as well as entire root, handbag them upward as well as pose them inwards the garbage.

Here is a plentiful patch of Poison Ivy. Notice that the industrial plant life has leaves grouped constantly past times three.
You tin run into political party of the Poison Ivy vine growing along the ground. Virginia Creeper is similar to Poison Ivy inwards the agency it grows, mature leafage clusters are ever inwards groups of five. Don’t hold out fooled past times this guy, he’s harmless!  

Quackgrass is ever trying to brand its agency into my vegetable garden. It grows faster than my lawn as well as is much to a greater extent than coarse inwards texture. The source arrangement of Quackgrass has brilliant white rhizomes that brand this weed hence aggressive. It’s almost impossible to larn every slice of the rhizome past times pulling as well as where a rhizome is left inwards the soil, a novel industrial plant life volition grow.

NIGHTMARE WEEDS

Initially, nightmare weeds are merely super annoying, but subsequently a twelvemonth or two, volition crusade fifty-fifty the most tenacious gardener to hang the white give upward flag as well as sell the property. Diligence is the telephone commutation to battling these weeds. Mowing, clipping, pulling, as well as herbicides are all necessary to struggle the black forces of these evil weeds.

Oriental Bittersweet as well as Japanese Knotweed should brand y'all shudder. Thankfully, this insane cluster of Oriental Bittersweet is non inwards my yard! You tin run into the vines reaching for something sturdy to cling to. This tree is the unfortunate back upward for these Oriental Bittersweet Vines. The vines volition genuinely choke the tree to death. 

 The brilliant orangish fibrous roots are a signature of Oriental Bittersweet as well as tin hold out hard to describe i time established. The best command for Oriental Bittersweet is to describe these weeds when they are pocket-size equally shown inwards the photograph below, right.

Japanese Knotweed grows chop-chop as well as aggressively, it has a unique zig-zag shaped branch with rattling intend clumping rhizomes. The stems of Japanese Knotweed are hollow as well as hold off similar to bamboo.

WEED SPRAY

Non-toxic, Pet Safe!

This pet-safe herbicide is non-selective, hence spray precisely. This spray works great, specially on weeds that creep inwards betwixt patio stones driveway cracks.