Weed Control

What is Weeding?

Before we go further, you first need to understand the term weeding. By definition, weeding is the removal of unwanted plants that grow along useful plants. These unwanted plants are what we call weeds.

Benefits of Removing Weeds

Here are some of the reasons why you should remove weeds from your garden or lawn.

To Increase The Amount Of Sunlight Your Plants Get

Weeds are known to grow more aggressively than the vegetables you carefully plant in your garden.

Because they grow faster than your plants, they will prevent sunlight from reaching your crops. If your vegetables, fruits or herbs do not get sunlight, their growth will be impacted significantly. By removing weeds, you are allowing sunlight to get all the way to your other plants.

To Prevent Weeds From Robbing Your Plants of Nutrients

Plants need certain nutrients for them to grow and thrive.

Weeds also need nutrients. They will compete with your useful, wanted plants for the nutrients in the ground if they grow in the same area. In most cases, this competition tends to harm your plants a lot.

By eliminating weeds, you are helping your plants get the nutrients they need from the soil.

To Prevent Harmful Chemicals From Being Released

There are different kinds of weeds, many of which harm your garden in a lot of different ways.

A good example of such a weed is nutgrass. The nutgrass is known to compete for resources with useful plants and also release chemicals that are harmful to them.

You should remove nutgrass and similar weeds to prevent the poisoning of beneficial plants.

To Prevent the Spread of Pests in Your Garden

In the cold months, especially in winter, pests tend to turn weeds into their habitat.

This may be great for them, but when the spring comes, this can ruin your garden. With a favorable environment set for them, these pests can spell destruction for your next year’s garden.

Issues that May Arise When Weeding Your Garden

There are quite a number of problems that gardeners, even the experts, face when weeding. Here are a few of them:

Stubborn Weeds

Weeds like Velvetleaf and Morning glory are a nuisance because of their ability to spread. Eradicating them becomes even harder.

Use weed barriers as they will prevent the vines of these weeds from scattering seeds.

Possible Injury

When weeding, especially by pulling weeds out, you might have to go down on your knees. There might be stones, broken glass or other type of debris that will harm you.

Clear the areas around where you plan to weed to prevent any injury.

How to Weed your Garden

There are a couple of ways ways to get rid of weeds:

Pulling Weeds

One of the ways of getting rid of weeds is by pulling them out.

Choose the right time to pull the weeds. Weeding when the soil is wet is a lot easier than when the ground is dry. Weeding after it rains is a good idea, if possible.

These are some of the tools used for killing weeds:

• gardening gloves to protect your hands
• a farmer's knife
• weeder such as the dandelion weeder, cape cod weeder, cobrahead weeder, etc
• a torch such as the weed dragon garden torch - it can burn the weeds

Using Herbicides

Another effective way of killing weeds is by using herbicides (chemicals).

Just like any other chemical, herbicides also need to be handled with care. Here is how to apply herbicides to your garden safely.

The first thing that you need to do is read the label on the bottle of the herbicide. Ignoring those instructions may result in injury to your garden, or even worse, to yourself.

Wear your protective gear. You will need a pair of gloves and goggles to prevent accidental splashes.

Mix the herbicide according to the instructions given on the label.

Apply the herbicides continuously with little overlap.

Once you are done spraying the herbicide, clean up the tools, and then change clothes and even take a shower.

Weed Control Companies

Of course, many gardeners are hands-on individuals. Basically, they tend to do all the garden maintenance work by themselves, including weeding.

There are some instances when you might prefer to work with a professional weed control company.

Let us look at why it is important to hire professionals to weed your lawn or garden for you.

1. Highly Effective- this is because our landscaping experts are trained to deal with any kind of weed, and they can also put together a plan to keep these weeds away from your garden.
2. It is Convenient- when you hire professionals, you do not have to do things like buying herbicides or tools for uprooting. All you have to do is call them to your garden and leave everything for them.
3. Use of Safe Removal Methods- Weed removal is not a straightforward thing, as many may think. There are things that need to be considered first, especially when using chemicals. In essence, the use of the wrong chemicals may destroy weeds and also harm crops. Therefore, hiring experts ensures that the right herbicides are used so they don't harm your other plants.
4. It's a lot easier, especially if you have a large property to tend to.

If you need help removing weeds, or even if you have only a couple of questions, feel free to contact us. R & G Almanza Landscape offers weed removal services for the greater Chicago area.

Conclusion

Weeds can be a nuisance to your garden. Whenever possible, weeds should be removed fast, before they get a chance to spread.