Flower garden with crab grass???

Question

How do I get rid of the crab grass in my flower garden? I live in Vermont and I have been weeding it for the past month but it has just gotten horribly out of control over the last two weeks. Please send me some ideas.

Thanks :)

Answer 1

I had this problem and after trying a dozen things I bought PREEN its the only thing that worked. I have not had any crab grass since and that was 2 years ago.

Answer 2

I have this problem too! I use a weed killer to get rid of the crab grass. Most likely you won't want to spray it on cause you will kill your other flowers, so you want to put the weed killer in a wide mouth can/jar so you can use a small paint brush to paint it on the weeds you want to kill. This allows you to be much more selective than if you spray. It is still time consuming, but if you don't get the crab grass stopped it will completely take over and choke out your flowers. After you have done this, put a heavy layer of mulch down to help keep it from growing back.

Answer 3

I like the first suggestion, just want to add there are sponge tips for sprayers you can buy to apply the weed killer.

Answer 4

mechanical (picking the weed) is the bast way to remove weeds. however in your circumstance a chemical is needed. you can spot spray round up on the weeds if you are very careful. Many lawn companies have chemicals that are not available to the public bc of their use restrictions. a pre- emergent is very important in the control of weeds. Snapshot is the best out there for ornamental weed control. remember this is just a pre emerge and will do no good if the weeds have already popped. if you want to do a good job the best bet is to hire a company with the better chemicals. if are out at home depot or lowes, look for chemicals with  MSMA, simazine, or atrazine. those are the active ingredients in many chemicals that willl control crabgrass.

Answer 5

Yes it is a major problem and the trouble is that if you use painted-on weedkiller and it has already set seed, the seed will drop to the ground and germinate next year.

Really, your only solution is careful hand weeding before there is any sign of seed...sorry.

Next spring, you can put down a pre-emergent weedkiller (one that inhibits germination). It won't affect the already growing plants but it will stop the crab grass germinating.