There's nothing worse than planting a beautiful flowerbed in spring that becomes overrun with weeds within a month or so. Good news is there are four ways to safely go about weed control in flower beds without killing your flower.
- Pull them by hand. Pretty self explanatory. Just make sure you don't pull your flowers out while pulling out the weeds!
- Use a weed preventer at planting time. There are several types of weed preventers listed for use in annual flower beds. The one I use, Hi-Yield Herbicide Granules containing Treflan, and usually provides season-long prevention of weeds. Avoid weed preventer/fertilizer combination products as different types of plants might require different types of fertilizer at different times of year. Just use a weed preventer only for preventing weeds and a fertilizer for feeding.
- Mulch. Apply a 1- to 2-inch layer of shredded or chipped wood mulch to prevent weed growth. I prefer the shredded mulches because they usually stay in place better than the chips, which often wash away like little boats when it rains. Mulch not only prohibits weed growth, it also helps to retain moisture. Mulch is especially important in "raised beds" where soil tends to dry more quickly.
- Spray Carefully. Though I don't recommend it, you can VERY CAREFULLY spot spray weeds in your flowerbed with a broad spectrum, glyphosate-based weed killer, such as Killzall, which kills just about any plant you pray it on. When your annual bedding plants have filled out it will be virtually impossible to use this method without damaging or killing your desirable plants. If you spray a glyphosate-based product do so when there is absolutely no wind and adjust the spray nozzle so that it sprays a stream rather than a mist or fog. Spot-spray only the weeds! And don't pump that sprayer up too much!