Does anyone have a good way to keep weeds out of my plant bed. I am considering Rubber Mulch. ?

Question

So I just cleaned out my overrun with weeds plant bed, again. I am so tired of weeding. The weeds come back so fast that I just can't keep up. They grow faster than your pretty plants and then stunt their growth. Can any one suggest something that works to keep the weeds back that doesnt kill your plants and keep you out in the hot sun pulling weeds. I am so frustrated. Please help. BTW My neighbors I'm sure are frustrated too and would appreciate any help you give me!

Answer 1

An inexpensive, natural mulch is pine needles. Of course it helps if you have access to pine trees. I use a rake and gather bundles of pine needles, and layer them thickly in my flower beds around my wanted plants. The needles help keep the weeds in check, and best of all, this mulch is free.

Answer 2

There is a product called Preen.  It is a weed inhibitor type product.  What you do is after you have weeded your flower beds and have your plants planted, you sprinkle the Preen in the flower beds as per the directions on the bottle.  It will help with keeping the weeds down.  It also comes as Preen and Green which also has a fertilizer for your plants.  It will not eliminate your weeds 100%, but you will see a big improvement.  I personally like to water my plants in the evenings, even though I have drip irrigation in my beds.  When I do this, I scan the flower beds and when I see a stray weed here and there, I pull them out.  It is a lot easier than letting the weeds get out of hand.  Also, when you weed your flower beds, pull the weeds out, roots and all, you will have better results with weeds not growing back as much

Answer 3

Weed block fabric.  I install lawn sprinklers and landscaping.  The beds that I use the fabric in have few to no unwanted vegitation in them.

It is a big project to take everything including mulch from the beds but then just lay the fabric down, tuck it into the edges and put mulch back.  It lets water through but chokes out grass and weeds.

Answer 4

Sorry to tell you, but the rubber muclch doesn't work from my own experience.  I used the fabric landscape cloth under my mulch, and it helped a LOT.  Although, it didn't totally stop the weeds, I only have to go outside and pull weeds like once a month.  At that, it's only one or two little ones.  Anyhow, good luck.  Hope this helps.