Watch the next video in our series of tips for your lawn and garden.

While you’ll never be able to eliminate all the weeds in your lawn or garden, here are some tips to help keep weeds under control:

• Use a weed pulling tool to help dig up individual weeds.
• Make sure to get the roots when pulling weeds.
• Use the correct herbicide when spot spraying weeds.
• Be sure to dispose of any pulled weeds to avoid spreading weed seeds.
• Keep a layer of mulch in garden beds and around shrubs to prevent weeds.
• Test the pH and nutrients in soil, and amend the soil if needed, to promote healthy grass and reduce weeds.

Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

• How to Control Weeds in Your Lawn (article)
• How to Have a Weed Free Lawn (article)
• Advantages of Weed Barriers for Your Garden (video)
• How to Install Landscape Fabric and Plastic (article)

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Danny Lipford: Well, Julie I know one thing that homeowners are always worried about, weeds. It seems like the pop up everywhere especially during this time of the year. How do you attack these things?

Julie Day: The key is the figure out a way to manage them so that you don’t get overwhelmed by them, but also understanding that you’re never going to get rid of them completely.

Danny: Right, right. I mean is the best way just to completely pluck them out of there?

Julie: It is, if you’re willing to do that. Little tools like this are great for targeting just a weed without digging up the surrounding plants. And just pop out the root and all.

Danny: OK. Now, what about spot spraying with just a poison?

Julie: Sure. Spot spraying is good, particularly if you have something like this that’s out by itself. You can see what it is. You need to be really careful to read the labels of the product so that you know what you’re getting.

Danny: I got you. Now, what about basically the mulch itself? How important is maintaining the mulch in a flowerbed?

Julie: I think mulch is one of the most important things you can do. It’s good for your garden in so many ways, but it also keeps the weeds – either smothers the ones that are here or prevents the seeds from getting enough sunlight to be able to grow.

Danny: OK. You just reminded me about something. Now, my wife will pull weeds all the time. She’ll pull them here and there, but a lot of times she will leave them on a patio or a sidewalk and everything. And I’ve heard that it can rain and really spread those seeds. Is that right?

Julie: It really can.

Danny: All right, you proved me right then. Good.

Julie: You’re right on this one.

Danny: Now, what about the lawn itself? You know sometimes you go out during this time of the year in some yards, and there’s weeds everywhere. Do you spray that? Do you use the weed and feed? Just how do you attack a yard that really has an acute weed problem?

Julie: Well, if you walk out into your yard and you pretty much only see weeds, then you really need to work on your grass. It could be a pH problem, it could be just that your soil isn’t very nutritious. You can add things to it to help it to be a better consistency. You can also put down fertilizer or new seed or sod. And, if you do that and give it a couple of months and your grass doesn’t come back, then you might want to look into a product that would kill weeds in your lawn.