Weeds can make a healthy, beautiful garden go from the jewel of the neighborhood to an eyesore in just a few days. Weeds taking over your garden is the average garden owner’s worst nightmare. A weed-infested garden can negatively affect your property’s aesthetic appeal.

Here are some ways weeds can affect your garden and how to prevent them from a Santa Rosa landscape contractor.

Weeds Rob Plants of Essential Nutrients

Both plants and weeds need water, nutrients, and sunlight to survive. No matter how big your yard, once weeds take over, there won’t be enough room for your plants and them.

Weeds in your garden can deprive your plants of nutrients. Undernourished plants are susceptible to diseases and insect infestation. What’s worse, weeds suck up nutrients from the soil, causing plants to wither.

Some Weeds Are Parasites

In addition to competing with plants for nutrients, some parasitic weeds cling on to their stems or roots and consume the nutrients stored in them. This contributes to an increase in the plants’ susceptibility to diseases.

They Compete with Plants For Space

Invasive weed species can take up much of the space meant for your plants to grow. Plants in an overcrowded garden may never reach their full potential height.

When weeds start growing in a few patches of their garden, many garden owners stay in denial and fail to realize the gravity of the situation. This could prove to be a costly mistake. Weeds can grow very fast and can take over an entire garden in just a few weeks, threatening the plants in it.

In addition to harming plants, some weed varieties can affect human health. They can cause allergic reactions or irritate the skin. If water hyacinth, a prominent water weed, gets into your water supply, it could negatively affect your water quality.

Tips to Combat and Prevent Weeds

Instead of waiting for invasive weed species to take over your garden and then act, why not prevent them from growing in the first place?

Here are some tried and tested ways to prevent weeds from growing:

  • Remember to till or hand-cultivate your garden when creating a new garden bed
  • Apply a pre-emergent
  • Use a soaker hose to add moisture where it’s needed
  • Mulch your beds

Have weeds got into your garden? Relax! It’s not the end of the world. You can get weeds under control with an effective weed control plan. Timely action is the key to effective weed control. The longer you wait to combat weeds, the more damage you will end up with.

Here are some effective methods landscape contractors in Santa Rosause to kill weeds naturally:

  • Apply a mixture of salt, vinegar, and dish soap to weeds on a bright, sunny day
  • Create a bark mulch
  • Use newspapers to prevent sunlight from reaching weeds
  • Use old shower curtains and carpet samples to create a non-permeable weed barrier

Do you notice weeds growing in your garden? Reach out to the Sweetwater Landscape team before it’s too late! We use effective weed control techniques that eliminate weeds without negatively affecting plants. To learn more, call (707) 887-0140.