7 Ways to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Lawn
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Ed Malaker
- Last updated:
Gardening can be a fun and rewarding way to improve the landscape of your home. However, weeding can turn a happy experience into a tedious chore that you must perform daily to prevent them from taking over your lawn. If this sounds like your situation, keep reading while we look at several methods you can use to get rid of weeds on your property. We’ll discuss how they get in your yard and how to eliminate them, so you have a better experience.
The 7 Tricks for Getting Rid of Weeds In Your Lawn
1. Understand Growing Patterns
One of the first things we recommend doing when you’re trying to control weeds is learning more about the growing varieties. Weeds are like any other plants and will grow better in a certain light, certain types of soil, and specific humidity. Learning more about your weeds can help you create unfavorable conditions that slow or even prevent their growth, making them much easier to control.
Admittedly, it will be hard to do much to prevent weeds from growing in your yard. However, you might learn that some plants favor a certain soil you are using, so you can change it to a different type. You can try to grow plants that favor a drier or more acidic soil that the weeds don’t grow as well in. Changing the location of plants in your garden might also help some plants get the light they need without encouraging weed growth with damp soil.
2. Getting on Your Hands and Knees
Unfortunately, one of the best ways to remove weeds from your lawn is to do it the old-fashioned way, on your hands and knees. Spending a few minutes in your garden each day pulling the weeds will help you get them when they’re still small and easy to pull before there is a root system in place that allows them to grow even after you’ve removed them. Some weeds like dandelions have an extensive root system that is likely already in place, so there’s not much you can do about them. However, you’ll find your yard has much fewer weeds by following this step.
Working on your hands and knees is uncomfortable and dirty, so you will want to get it over with as quickly as possible. We recommend making it easier on yourself by getting a comfortable knee pad that you can use to keep your legs off the ground. Gloves will also protect your hands, and some have special features that allow you to dig into the ground easier, which will help you get at the root system.
3. Water Correctly
We mentioned earlier that it’s important to learn about the growth patterns of weeds, and hopefully, you’ve already learned the same about your lawn and garden plants. Each species requires a specific amount of water to grow properly, and overwatering will only produce conditions that favor weed growth and promote rot. Many plants will even die if they sit in too much water each day.
As we mentioned earlier, learning about your plant’s needs is the first step to ensuring you don’t overwater. If you use an automatic sprinkler system, consider how much water it’s putting into your lawn. In many cases, if you’re getting a lot of weeds, you can cut back, saving on water costs without harming plant growth. We also recommend watering your plants early in the morning, so the sun will have plenty of time to burn excess moisture during the day. Watering later in the day causes the humidity to remain overnight, promoting weed growth and inviting snails.
4. Aerate
As plants grow and die, they leave behind the root system, which can strangle your grass, causing it to be thin and fragile. The dense and decaying roots can also prevent water from reaching the soil below, causing the grass to dehydrate and yellow. If you do not aerate the root system properly, large parts of your yard can become patchy and brown.
There’s a wide selection of tools that you can use to aerate your lawn, and you can also hire a professional landscaper to do it for you. Hiring a professional is a great option if you haven’t aerated the property in a few years. We recommend aerating the lawn in early spring before the grass starts to grow for the year. Some people also like to do it in the fall, but it’s not necessary if you’re hiring someone. We found that a simple device called aerating shoes is an easy way to keep your yard healthy and green for many homeowners. With these shoes, you can also aerate the yard twice a year with no fuss. They have long spikes on the bottom and all you need to do is walk around your yard to break up the root systems.
5. Mow Properly
If you live in an area with a lot of homes, you’ll find that most people seem to cut the grass on the same day. Everyone wants to make sure their grass isn’t taller than everyone else is. However, shorter grass allows more sunlight to reach the ground, providing weeds with the nutrients they need to grow. Keeping the grass short prevents its root system from going deeper into the ground, allowing the weeds space and providing an opening to steal nutrients.
If you’re having a problem with weeds in your lawn, try letting your grass grow a little taller, preventing the sunlight from getting down to the ground. The taller grass will also have a stronger root system that provides a better natural defense against the weeds. If you can’t mow your lawn less frequently, we recommend raising the blades one or two notches to see if it makes a difference.
6. Feed The Grass
The grass is often one of the most under-cared for plants on our property. It has to survive in the harshest conditions, often in direct sunlight with little water and in many cases people walking on it. Dead or dying grass can allow sunlight to hit the ground, which can encourage weed growth and the root system will not have the same natural defense against weeds as healthy grass.
Proper watering and occasional fertilizer is the best way to keep your lawn thick and healthy, preventing new weed growth. Thick, tall, and healthy grass will not allow sunlight to hit the ground, and the dense root system will provide a natural barrier against new weed growth.
Related Read: Can I Put Landscape Fabric Over Weeds? What You Need to Know!
7. Use Grass Seed
Grass can become thin and brittle over time due to excessive weed growth, heatwaves, and drought conditions. In many cases, these conditions will repeat over many years, deteriorating your grass beyond its ability to replenish itself. These yards will be incapable of preventing weed growth.
If your grass has suffered from several years of neglect, you will likely need to replenish it by putting down grass seed. The good news is that grass seed is inexpensive, and there are many varieties, so you might be able to enhance your yard unexpectedly. Some grass seed is heat and drought resistant which will help keep the grass healthy to prevent weeds from growing.
Additional Tips
There is a wide variety of herbicides you can use to help prevent the growth of weeds. These products use a special formula that targets most types to kill without harming your yard or garden. The downside to these products is that some of them have proven to be harmful to our health. So we recommend using them with caution and always with the proper safety equipment.
Placing mulch on any exposed soil where it’s practical can dramatically decrease the number of weeds that grow in that area. Many kinds of wood contain a natural chemical that strongly discourages weed growth.
You could also try using a weed barrier. A weed barrier is a special cloth that allows grass and other plants to grow while preventing weeds. These barriers require a little work to install, but they can last for several years with very little maintenance.
- You might also like: How to Tell If Grass Is Dead or Dormant (4 Signs to Look For)
Summary
We recommend studying the weeds that grow in your area and using the information you learn to help you create a landscape where your plants in the yard will grow with fewer weeds. The proper amount of seed, water, and height will allow your lawn to be thick and green, preventing weeds from growing. Aerating the lawn at the beginning of each spring season will help keep your grass naturally healthy, so there is less need for chemical herbicides that can harm your health.
See also:
- 10 Weeds That Look Like Grass (with Pictures)
- How to Get Rid of Stickers (Burweed) in Your Yard (6 Tips)
Featured Image Credit: FrankHH, Shutterstock
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