Three Tips for Summer Weeding

The recent influx of rain in middle Tennessee has given gardens some much-needed moisture over what has been a dry, hot summer. However, with that moisture came plenty of weeds in its wake. If you have been struggling with weeds in your garden or landscape beds, here are a few tips for preventing and eradicating them.

Acquire a Weeding Tool

The first half of the battle against weeds is going outside to pick them, and picking weeds by hand is an extremely undesirable task. We find that gardeners are more likely to get outside to pull weeds if they have a tool to aid them. A weeding tool such as a gardening hoe hooks itself into the ground and can pull more weeds at once than you can by hand. There are various tools to choose from—here is the selection of lawn and garden tools we carry at our location on Old Fort Pkwy.

Pull Everything Up

Weeds are a nuisance, and in your weeding frustration, you may be tempted to use your handy weed eater to eradicate the weeds from your garden or flower beds. While this may provide a temporary solution, we suggest pulling weeds up by the root instead. When you cut off the tops of weeds in a garden or flower bed, the plant will continue to grow, and you will have to keep coming back week after week to lop off the top again. However, if you pull up a weed by its roots, the likelihood of regrowing is slim. If you’re having trouble with stubborn roots on weeds, try pulling from the base of the plant.

Use Mulch

After you have eradicated the weeds in your garden beds, you want to make sure you reduce the possibility of re-growing. Mulch is a great way to shield any emerging weed seeds from the sunlight they need to grow. Unfortunately, without the use of a topical weed killer, it may not be possible to prevent weeds in mulched beds altogether. However, regular mulching will make it easier to pull weeds since they are growing in loose mulch, not hard, compact dirt.

 If you have questions about the lawn and gardening supplies available at Kelton’s Hardware & Pet, call us at 615-893-5125 or stop by our store on Old Fort Pkwy in Murfreesboro to speak with one of our knowledgeable associates. 

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