Weeds, Weeds, Weeds, Where do they all come from?

Dave Christensen — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:48:31 +0000

Weeds are common place in gardens and flower pots.

I live out in the country and it seems that I am always battling back the weeds that sneak in. The birds don’t help either. Once certain weeds get established in a garden it is almost impossible to erradicate them. On several occasions in the past, I have had huge gardens that became infested. At times, I gave up and just mowed them over. In recent years, I have made my gardens smaller and used the resources of weed killer, mulch and weed fabric. Gardens can not be planted and just left, they need to be tended to and managed. Some things to consider if you have weed infestation or want to keep them under control.

1. Allow PREEN to become your best friend. You can purchase this product at any hardware store. Keep in mind that Preen can only be effective on weed free soil. It does not allow weeds to germinate. At first i recommend that you apply it every 3 weeks. This is more than they recommend. But it is necessary. If the weeds are removed, this product will keep weeds at bay. If weeds are present, it will not rid them.

2. Mulch of any kind is critical around perennials and shrubs, along with preen

3. In the spring I burn my gardens, it kills alot of weed seeds that may have dropped in the summer. Once thistle gets established it is very difficult to rid there after.

We all know what weeds and weedy gardens look like, so no picture is on line at this time. Contact me for more information or tips (docsperennials@yahoo.com)

Maintaining your perennial garden appearance!

Dave Christensen — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:56:35 +0000

Perennial gardens are a beautiful additions to any yards or home perimeters. They do require some maintenance to keep your gardens looking beautiful. As perennials grow, they expand and sometimes attempt to crowd out their neighboring perennial friends. You can choose to divide them out by cutting into their roots and removing part of the plant or you can just trim down some of the branches on the sides to allow a definition between plants and increase circulation. Doing this will increase the beauty of your gardens and keep a nice textured appearance to your gardens. You will find out quickly what plants you can divide and which one you cannot. If dividing, you are cutting into the root system. You will need to cut of many of the leaves as the plant usually is unable to support the top leaf growth. The plant will usually regenerate new leaves within a few weeks when the plant has recovered from the shock.

There are many many plants that do well with root divisions. At a later post I will give some tips on which plants do better than others. The list could be exhaustive and for most gardeners the trial and error approach works best. It may be simpler to cutting off side branches that crowd out other plants.

Perennial Paradise » Maintenance

Weeds, Weeds, Weeds, Where do they all come from?

Maintaining your perennial garden appearance!