weed control

There’s a few options when it comes to controlling weeds in your yard ranging from prevention to removal, here’s what I’ve found works:

Prevention

Properly maintaining your lawn can go a long way to prevent weed growth.  Try to keep a thick, dense yard.  Raise your mower blade to a minimum of 2.5 inches, this keeps the ground shaded preventing weed seeds from germinating essentially “squishing out” these unwanted plants.  Keep your lawn mower blade nice and sharp giving you a clean cut which will in turn keep your grass healthy.  Leave your grass clippings on your lawn, these will act as a fertilizer, breaking down and adding nitrogen to your soil.  Seed your yard at least once a year with grass that is appropriate for your property – shade, sun etc.

Removal

The absolute greenest way to rid your yard of weeds is by hand pulling.  The best time to pull weeds is right after a rainfall when the ground is nice and loose, plants pull out quite easily and the chances are better that you’ll get the root too.  This is my primary method of weed removal; I try and spend a few minutes a day or a half hour a week yanking out these lawn invaders.

I find boiling water to be extremely effective when eradicating weeds from between patio stones and in driveway cracks and such, but you need to be careful not to burn yourself or get it on plants you’re not trying to eliminate.

Suggestions for weed removal that I’ve found online include using lemon juice or creating your own homemade herbicides.  There are numerous recipes for homemade weed killers out there, it really just depends on what you feel comfortable using.  Generally speaking any sort of spray or product you use will kill most plants it comes in contact with, so you’ll need to figure out how eco-friendly you’d like to be.  Some things to note: salt can prevent future plants from growing in an area.  If you’re using soap make sure it’s phosphorus free.  Phosphorus can leach into the ground water and find its way into streams and ponds causing excessive algae growth making it difficult for fish and other aquatic creatures to survive.

Or you can always get a goat.

What have you tried the works?