For as long as humans have grown our own plants, we have struggled with weeds. Weeds are invasive plants that steal resources and space from our more valuable crops. They can take over the grass in our lawns and make it difficult for our food, flowers, and foliage to grow. On top of that, weeds are often unsightly.
Learning how to kill weeds in your lawn is important if you want to stay in control. If you don’t stop them, these weeds are going to continue to encroach upon your beautifully manicured lawn.
So what’s a lawn-owner to do?
How to Kill Weeds in Your Lawn With Chemicals
You can start by heading down to your local home hardware store or gardening shop and picking up some weed killer.
When wondering how to kill weeds in your lawn, a weed killer is most people’s go-to. There are different types of weed killers, but they all focus on the same thing: giving you an easy and effective way to kill weeds in your lawn.
Getting weed killer for a lawn is a bit different than getting weed killer for a driveway or for cracks in the sidewalk. The main reason being that you (most likely) don’t want to kill your grass. This means that you need to look for a weed killer that’s made just to kill weeds, one that you can avoid exposing your lawn to.
You can also make your own weed killer using vinegar and water or some other natural ingredients. However, this stuff won’t be nearly as strong as a chemical weed killer and it’s only good for killing very small or very young weeds.
How to Kill Weeds in Your Lawn by Hand
The simplest way to kill weeds is also the most time-consuming: pulling them out by hand.
If you don’t have a ton of weeds, then this is a fine option. You won’t have to spend any money, you’ll get to spend time in nature, and you’ll be able to build a stronger relationship with your land.
Make sure that you pull out weeds by the root. Some weeds, like dandelions, will continue to return again and again until they’re uprooted.
How to Kill Weeds in Your Lawn with Planning
If you’re a thinker rather than a doer, then you’ll be happy to hear that you can simply think your weeds away! Or, so we’d like to say. More realistically, you can apply planning and knowledge to make your lawn a less hospitable place for weeds.
- Using mulch around the edges of your yard prevents weeds from growing.
- Preparing for a healthy lawn by ensuring that you have strong, healthy grass reduces the chances of weed infestations. Some recommend using products like Root Maximizer.
- In some cases, keeping your grass kept short can prevent weeds from seeding (should they get this far in their growth cycle).
- Keeping the pH of your lawn around 6.5 is ideal for grass but may make it difficult for weeds to grow
These tips, as well as the more manual recommendations of pulling weeds and using chemicals, will help you keep your yard weed-free for the years to come.