By R. Lewis
Weed growth in the lawn at this time is best controlled naturally by an application of a good quality organic fertilizer and frequent lawn mowing.
Keep in mind that the use of a chemical fertilizer with or without a built-in weed control (weed and feed fertilizer) is risky now due to the onslaught of extreme heat and hot dry non-stop winds. If you do apply these harsh and strong chemical fertilizers at this time, you must monitor your soil moisture daily for a few weeks. If your soil dries – the high salt content and the strong synthetic nitrogen of the chemical product can quickly “burn” grass roots and significantly damage the entire lawn.
Weed growth in flowerbeds has been a problem throughout the spring season and now with the “quick switch” to extremely hot and dry, the weed growth should slow down, but to control your flowerbeds and keep them clean, don’t pick your weeds! That sounds strange, I know, but by picking the weeds in the garden you are basically stimulating the weeds root system, similar to pruning your plants. It is much better and will do a more thorough elimination of the weed problem if you spray them with a weed killer herbicide first and let them do a complete kill of the weed and then remove the dead weed from the area. Most over the counter herbicides can take nearly two weeks to totally kill the weed, but a least it is totally controlled. If you are just pulling existing weeds, they will just keep coming back, especially, what I consider the “weed from hell” – nutgrass, aptly named because it will drive you nuts trying to keep this out of your lawn and garden. There is a chemical product called “Sedge Hammer” that I’ve tried that seems to work on nut sedge, aka nutgrass. Even with this you will need to apply a second (and third) application to eliminate totally.
I have used several chemical herbicides over the years, but the so called “new kid on the block” is believe it or not, a natural product – vinegar. I have found that vinegar does a faster more thorough job than the other chemical products. It is best used in full sun and the harsh acidic quality of the vinegar quickly burns the foliage of the weed the same day it is applied.
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