Weeds in flower beds-heeeelp!

[Lyoshka]

How do you guys keep weeds out of your flower beds? We are in Wilmington, North Carolina, zone 8A.

A bit of a background – the house is three years old and I have built on what the builder put in and extended the flowerbeds to be wider. Have not really done anything for weed control, and it’s very difficult to keep up now. For now, I use pine straw as my flower bed in medium, in a season or two want to switch to bark mulch.

What are your suggestions to keep the weeds from coming back repeatedly? Layers of newspaper? Landscaping fabric? I want to stay away from chemicals.
Thanks!

 

[LouisFerdinand]

@Lyoshka, I do not use any layers of newspaper or landscaping fabric for my yard customers. I weed the flower beds by hand. So many people want to have flower bulbs planted in different months. Mulch would be a hindrance.

 

[oneeye]

I use 2 to 4 inches of native hardwood or cedar mulch in my beds. No WEEDS in my beds. I don't use fabric or newspapers, I just pile the mulch directly on the ground.

 

[roadrunner]

I allowed my weeds to grow and I found out, through personal research that many of them are edible and they are far more effective at attracting pollinators and other beneficial things to my yard than any cultivated plant.

 

[Lyoshka]

I use 2 to 4 inches of native hardwood or cedar mulch in my beds. No WEEDS in my beds. I don't use fabric or newspapers, I just pile the mulch directly on the ground.

Did you have weeds before ?

 

[Lyoshka]

@Lyoshka, I do not use any layers of newspaper or landscaping fabric for my yard customers. I weed the flower beds by hand. So many people want to have flower bulbs planted in different months. Mulch would be a hindrance.

That’s what I have been doing and I just don’t keep up. Between being busy with kids and life, and landscaping on all 4 sides of the house, I need a longer-lasting solution.

 

[Lyoshka]

I allowed my weeds to grow and I found out, through personal research that many of them are edible and they are far more effective at attracting pollinators and other beneficial things to my yard than any cultivated plant.

While it’s definitely a noble approach, I don’t want grass and other stuff growing in my landscaping. Would like for it to look taken care of so that approach is sort of out for me...

 

[oneeye]

Where I live, we get hardwood mulch for $18.00 a truck load and cedar mulch for $30.00 a truck load. I never use mulch in bags, because you can save so much money, buying it by the truck load. One can buy a Dump truck load for $150.00 for hardwood and $300.00 for cedar mulch and have it delivered also.
Mulch stops the growth of weeds by locking up all the nitrogen in the soil. The mulch robs the grass of all the nutrients so it can break down and decay the mulch.

 

[roadrunner]

While it’s definitely a noble approach, I don’t want grass and other stuff growing in my landscaping. Would like for it to look taken care of so that approach is sort of out for me...

I don't allow grass in my gardens, that's definitely a weed in my book. I heavily mulch with leaves.

 

[Lyoshka]

Where I live, we get hardwood mulch for $18.00 a truck load and cedar mulch for $30.00 a truck load. I never use mulch in bags, because you can save so much money, buying it by the truck load. One can buy a Dump truck load for $150.00 for hardwood and $300.00 for cedar mulch and have it delivered also.
Mulch stops the growth of weeds by locking up all the nitrogen in the soil. The mulch robs the grass of all the nutrients so it can break down and decay the mulch.

Maybe I need to look into bulk prices. For now, I’ll have to stick with straw and it’s coming from Home Depot, so bails. But I’ll research and maybe I’ll find a deal by fall thanks!

 

[Lyoshka]

I don't allow grass in my gardens, that's definitely a weed in my book. I heavily mulch with leaves.

What kind of leaves? In the fall? And what’s “heavy”? see, I live in a warm climate and our winters are very mild, so nothing is really ever totally dead. And we don’t have a ton of trees with leaves, lots of pines (thus the straw). Trying to figure out a way to keep the landscaping good-looking year round.

 

[roadrunner]

Very warm climate here as well... My deciduous Sweetgum tree looses its leaves every year, even during these past two mild winters. The Southern Magnolia doesn't loose its leaves in the way a deciduous tree does, but it does shed them in the spring time, by the tons; however, I usually chew them up a little bit with my lawn mower.

My favorite leaves are from the Live Oak and I don't even chop them up, because the look just fine as is. Live oaks are classified semi-deciduous and they loose many of their leaves in the late winter time and I collect them from neighborhoods with many of these trees; the leaves are set out on the curb as yard waste for the city pick up (separate from trash).

P.S. I stick to the nice neighborhoods, so I don't get a bunch of trash in the yard waste. Leaves are always falling somewhere, you don't have to live in a northern climate, just observe the growing cycles of your native trees.

Also, sometimes people put their leaves in heavy duty yard-waste paper bags; one could use those as a barrier layer under the mulch to suppress weeds. I would never use plastic, because it can cause anaerobic conditions in the soil -- I've seen this first hand.

BTW, how much area are you dealing with?