The bane of my gardens existence!

Question

I dont know what these are but they get harder to handle every year. I only use preening and pulling as a weed barrier but these are coming in more and more every year. Does anyone know how to prevent themif I can at all?

Janet Bergner · Answer

the first plant looks like a type of mint maybe....If it is pulling it won't help. get an herbicide as for the second I don't know what it is but I get it and I pull it but when all else fails...herbicide

Carole Lee · Answer

a layer of bark chippings in your flower beds usually stops weeds ..you could try that ..I don't think that is a plant ..it looks like what we call monkweed in the UK it grows fast and furious !

Rhonda B · Answer

The first plant listed is Acalypha rhomboidea aka copperleaf. It is a weed.

Jerri Wolfe · Answer

Don't know the name, but it's a weed. Pull it, hoe it up, get the roots... I hate using chemicals on my plants, but this one always tempts me...

Keri · Answer

Not a mint but I think it is something that i pulled out when I bought this house. We pulled a bunch of shrubs and plants...

Linda T · Answer

Please don't use Roundup. It is one of the poisons that are killing the bees.

Keri · Answer

I dont use roundup Linda T. Thanks for identifying the weed everyone. Now any ideas thw best way to prevent it? I have to much ground cover and other perrenial seedlings growing to hoe.

Keri · Answer

Guess I just have to keep pulling....and pulling.... and pulling...and pulling. ..

Kay M. · Answer

@Keri, when you till your garden, move some of the dirt aside, and lay a thick layer of newspaper in between and around your perinneals, then put your dirt on top. No one sees it, and it's earth friendly, but it discourages the weeds.

Kathleen Feicke · Answer

The first one looks like mint as Janet says.  I get the fuzzy one.  We live in Florida and yard work is year round.  I love the plants, but the weeds....yuk.

Shari · Answer

Does the first one have a distinctive smell to the leaves if you rub them?  It looks so much like my lemon balm that has taken over.  It, too, is a member of the mint family.  It has a very distinct lemony smell when you bruise the leaves.

Barbara · Answer

Try white distiller vinegar to kill weeds, instead of Round Up.  It kills grass in gardens, then cover with wet black and white newspapers, and then cover with bark mulch.

Bark mulch.

Annie Smith · Answer

I found this technique helpful. ..identify when this weed grows the most. For example,  May and June. If so,  clean, barrier protect, like the newspaper,  and mulch one to two months before,  like March and April. Then,  when your weed season starts, it is much more manageable.  I even had one year of no weeds! I also use coco coyer for my mulch since it is so easy to work around. I never use weed killer. Don't let the weeds go to seed, if they have seeds, and don't use them in your compost. ..just toss them. Better luck next year!

Julie Haller · Answer

i'd try 1 gal vinegar a cup salt & a good squirt of dish soap mixed together, If you can't spray w/o hurt'n other plants try a bowl & a small paint brush. Brush the weed killer on leaves that has helped me in the past

Liliana Wells · Answer

Kay M. has the right idea: use several layers of newspaper, then mulch. I leave a little space around the plants that I am growing. You still get some weeds, but as many. The newspaper and mulch prevent the sun from reaching the weeds. I get stacks of newspaper from my local public library. You are recycling the newspaper and it wiil be gone by next year, so you may have to do it again.

Keri · Answer

Its not mint or lemon balm. One stem weed and leaves give off no smell.

Keri · Answer

Because I have a ground cover perrenial (alyssum) and other perrenial s that grow from seed and sprout up all over I cant do the newspaper.

Mary Law · Answer

I would use Brush Be Gone. That's just me. As someone else said. paint it on the leaves.It will kill anything, even poison oak and poison ivy.

Melissa Soucy · Answer

I use vinegar under plastic to kill off weeds than I out newspaper down under mulch and I very seldom have to pull a lot of weeds. Ii use news paper and straw in the garde around tomatoes and other veggies to ward off the blights. and it does help.

Elizabeth · Answer

I always boil my vinegar and salt before pouring it on weeds. It seems to kill them even faster !!!

Ang · Answer

id worry about using salt . it hurts the dirt and can make it harder to grow there .i use layers of newspapers and mulch works good and rots away and makes your dirt better .. i use vinegar and dish liquid in between the cracks of sidewalk ( no onw will be growing anything there ..

Lynn · Answer

I have used 1 gal vinegar (white) 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup dawn dish liquid...works rather quickly. :)

John J · Answer

Hmm... It maybe a plant/Weed called Common Elder - there is an alternative that is classed as a perennial plant - variegated Aegopodium podogaria Variegatum variety should go nice with the Alyssum. The weed is tough to get rid of as it will regrow from any root that is left in the ground - generally a good weed spray or paint on will generally do the trick to eradicate this if you truely don't like it. To spray do in batches place a tall enough cardboard or plastic sheeting around the area and spray the weeds then leave until dry then move on to repeat. Hoipe this helps in redressing your weed problem - Happy gardening ;D

Rita Hlasney · Answer

Looks like mulberry weed.  Google it and see if that is like yours..if so, don't allow it to go to seed..pull up before it can go that and it will help control. Timing of the preen is important as whether it is a winter annual, it need to be put on maybe July and August..check the label.

Dee · Answer

What a bothersome weed.  I have it all over my flower bed and I, too, can't lay newspaper down because of the many plants.  Other than pulling them out I can't think of anything else to do.  If you find a solution please repost.  Good luck!

Nancy Hatcher · Answer

The best way I've found to get rid of weeds that spread by seed is Preen - only if you are not also planting flower seeds. You do have to pull the weeds that have already sprouted. After the plants you want have grown a little and you've pulled as many weeds as you can simply sprinkle Preen around where you don't want weed seeds to germinate. Works like a charm as long as you follow the Preen directions.

Mark Hopple · Answer

these fuzzy weeds are easier to pull when they get a little bigger.. or just go pull after a good rain..

Debe · Answer

The fuzzy one looks like lambs ear.  I get them and I live in the valley(Arizona).  The older they get the pricklier they are and leave little splinter like things in your fingers.  They will flower and produce more.

Pat · Answer

Almost looks like my perennial Asters that bloom in the fall. They spread like crazy also...have to pull them out to keep them contained.

Mary Law · Answer

Spraying gets everything. Brushing is 1plant

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