When it comes to beautiful landscape beds, weeds can be a major source of frustration. Nothing takes away from a gorgeous plant bed like a bunch of weeds growing around your plants.

Dealing with weeds can often feel like an uphill battle. You pull a few but they just keep coming back…and sometimes stronger than before! You just want an effective solution that will keep weeds out of your precious beds.

Of course, you might be wondering How do I kill weeds without killing my plants? 

The last thing that you want to do is somehow end up harming your plants in the process of addressing weeds. In this article, we’ll talk about some effective control solutions that will allow you to remove weeds without killing plants.

How to Get Rid of Weeds Without Harming Your Plants

We understand that you don’t want to substitute one problem (weeds) with another (dead plants). 

For that reason, you might be looking for some advice on how to get rid of weeds without harming your plants. 

Let’s dive into a few considerations.

The Importance of Regular Weeding

One of the reasons why weeding often fails is that homeowners aren’t able to keep up with it. Weeds are incredibly persistent and weeding can be time-consuming. 

We get it! Your life is busy and the last thing that you really want to do is go out in your yard and pull weeds for hours. But regular weeding will help to boost the overall aesthetics of your plant beds by getting rid of eyesores. 

An effective way to remove weeds without killing plants is to pull them out by hand. Be sure to grab the weed at its base and pull the roots out, too. It’s not uncommon for weeds to break off at the stem with the roots still intact. If that happens, you need to dig them out.

Certain weeds have really deep roots so hand pulling simply isn’t going to be effective. With these weeds, you might be better off carefully digging them out and trying to avoid disturbing plants around them.

If you’re someone who really hates weeding, you might want to consider a professional weeding program. While weeding isn’t rocket science, it is definitely very time-consuming. By handing this landscape maintenance task over to a pro, you can free up your time (and save your back from this back-breaking work).

Get Control of Weeds with Specialty Products

There are times when hand-pulling or digging out weeds is simply not going to be effective. For one, there are some hardy varieties of weeds that are difficult to hand-pull and you might find that even the smallest remaining parts of the root cause them to keep coming back.

There are also some weeds that are actually stimulated by hand-pulling and will grow bigger and stronger than before. 

For these reasons, an added layer of protection is the use of specialty weed controls.

We also know that you are worried about how to get rid of weeds without harming your plants and you may be concerned about using weed controls. But the key is using specialty controls that will target only the weeds (and not your plants).

Even so, these products should not just be blanket-sprayed across the entire bed. You want to take a targeted approach and only hit the infested areas. 

There are often different types of controls for different weeds, so you want to make sure the right product is used. A professional will make sure that the proper products are being utilized.

Use Mulching and Edging to Your Advantage

Another weed control tactic that won’t harm your plants (in fact, it will help them) is mulching and edging your plant beds.

Mulch can act as an effective weed suppressant by making it difficult for weeds to break through that added layer. Weeds won’t have access to sunlight. The key is to have just the right amount of mulch applied. 

With too little mulch, aggressive weeds can still break through and it will not serve as an effective barrier. 

One key tip: It’s important to weed beds before mulching in order for this to be a truly effective solution.

A lot of mulching services will take shortcuts when preparing beds and simply dump mulch atop the weeds that are already there. But this will not smother weeds as many believe. Aggressive varieties will push right through the mulch. 

Thorough weeding should be performed prior to mulching to aim for the most possible success.

Proper edging of your plant beds can also play a small role in keeping weeds out. A well-defined edge around your plant beds looks great. But it also creates some delineation between your flower beds and your lawn. This means there is a physical barrier for lawn weeds to cross to get into your plant beds.

Get Help and Gain Peace of Mind

We commend your care and your effort in researching how to remove weeds without killing plants. But rather than trying to tackle all of this on your own, you might want to consider working with a landscape maintenance professional who can take on these tough tasks for you.

After all, weed control in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA can be a lot of work and you probably have much better things to do with your time. Weeding often ends up being one of those chores that get put off until it’s almost insurmountable to even begin. 

Instead of letting it get that bad, you can hand weeding over to a professional to tackle it for you. That’s important as weeds are not only an eyesore but can also be harmful to your healthy plants. 

Any weeds that invade your plant beds are automatically competing with your healthy plants for nutrients, water, and sunlight. They’ll try to do whatever they can to crowd out your desired plant material. 

But you can put a stop to it before it gets too bad.

By choosing a landscaping company in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA who can handle your weeding services for you, you’ll not only wind up with beautiful plant beds but you’ll be left with a lot less hassle, as well. At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we offer flower bed weeding plans that can keep your property looking its best. You can choose from a monthly or bi-monthly program depending on what suits your wants and needs. 

While most companies wait until weeds get out of control, we take a proactive approach to eliminate the hassles and headaches on your end. 

At the end of the day, you have better things to be doing than to be spending your nights or weekends pulling up weeds! With this annoying task handled for you, you’re free to use your time the way you really want to, while still having a weed-free property that you can be proud to show off.

Are you ready to give up your landscaping worries at your Alexandria, Arlington, or Springfield, VA home? If so, request your consultation, get your customized plan, and relax as you get the royal treatment.