The phrase "preventing weeds naturally" gets quite a few searches on the web every single day. Exactly why are people searching about how to prevent weeds naturally?
Every day, people use the internet to obtain information. When we're looking for information, our motivations are varied. Virtually all motivations can be separated into one of two groups; pleasure seeking or pain avoidance. Pleasure seeking is positive, when we're searching for something we want. Pain avoidance is negative, when we're looking to avoid something we don't want.
When we're trying to prevent weeds naturally, we have both positive and negative motivations. In this article, I'm taking aim only at the negative "pain avoidance" side, looking at the three mistakes that are most important to avoid when trying to implement a system of organic weed control.
You ought to know that preventing weeds naturally relies on keeping your good plants healthy enough to choke out new weeds from sprouting. It's also important to starve weed seedlings from getting what they need to thrive.
O.K. Exactly what do we have to avoid, and why?
As soon as you embark upon natural weed prevention, then clearly you have to begin treating your plants and garden differently.
Here are the 3 things you need to avoid:
To begin with, don't water garden or landscaped beds with a sprinkler system. The main reasoning for this is that sprinklers also water weeds, in addition to your good garden plants.
What is the alternative? Use a drip irrigation system, or if you hand water, take care to only water your garden plants and not water bare soil or areas where weeds may come up.
Second, plant for full soil coverage. Why is that? When you plant large stands of plants and they cover the ground completely, weed seedlings find it hard to get established, because your good plants' roots are taking up the water and nutrients available, and also their foliage is choking out new weeds from sprouting.
How can we tell what's enough or too much? You should aim for complete soil coverage. This works best when you plant multiple plants of the same variety, that have the same needs. You can also use groundcovering plants to get the same effect.
Lastly and most importantly, you should use a thick layer of mulch. This is because wood chip mulch can stop weed seedlings from even germinating. They stop seeds from getting the light and warm temperatures they need to sprout.
So how do you know if you've got enough mulch? You should have a minimum of three inches of wood chip mulch on your garden beds for good organic weed prevention.
Eliminate the weeds by avoiding these 3 potential issues. While it can be hard to avoid using nasty chemicals in your garden, prevention is key, and with these three tips you'll be ready for success.
