How to Keep the Weeds Under Control in Your Wildflower Garden

If you’re looking for an easy and low-maintenance garden option, a wildflower garden may be perfect for you! These types of gardens can encourage wildlife, and they don’t require much weed control. Here are some tips on how to keep the weeds under control in your wildflower garden.

Prepare Garden in Advance

Before you even start planting or considering what to plant you should prepare the land in advance.  Prepare flower beds with good soil and weed the area as much as possible.  It might be best done in the autumn as it tends to reduce the chance of them returning.

Mulch the Area

Mulching is a great way to keep the weeds at bay and it can be done with many different materials. Straw, bark chips or compost are all good options and will help to suppress weed growth while also providing nutrients to your plants. Be sure not to mound the mulch around the stem of your plants as this can cause them to rot.

Pull Weeds Regularly

The best way to keep your weed population under control is by pulling them out as soon as you see them. This might seem like a lot of work but it’s the most effective way to deal with them. If you let them grow, they’ll only become harder to get rid of.

If you’re looking for an easy and low-maintenance garden option, a wildflower garden may be perfect for you! These types of gardens can encourage wildlife, and they don’t require much weed control. Here are some tips on how to keep the weeds under control in your wildflower garden.

Buy Local and Native Plants

Once it’s time to plant do your research of what plants are native to the area in order to create a garden that’s beneficial to the eco-system and more likely to encourage those key pollinators mentioned earlier.   It also prevents you from accidentally planting an invasive species that may completely destroy the natural environment.

Dale Warner, a lifestyle writer at Write my X and 1 Day 2 write, cautions, “Look for packages labeled with scientific names so you can check thoroughly to ensure the mix is suitable for your region and doesn’t contain any invasive species that could spread.”

Buy seed mixes from local suppliers and check the mix carefully.  The University of Washington did a study on a few mixes and found that almost half the seeds were noxious weeds, though this tends to be a problem with imported seeds.  Check your local seeds have been tested for purity and take time to check the package.  

Tend to Your Garden

While one of the benefits of a wild-flower garden is the reduced care they need but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take some time to tend your garden.  As the garden begins to grow try and water smartly, focussing on watering the plant and not the soil which may accidentally provide nutrition to lurking weed seeds.  

Check frequently, especially at the beginning, to ensure there aren’t weeds coming through.  If weeds appear pull them immediately and make sure they haven’t gone to seed.  Hand-weeding is the preferred method but if you need to use a weed killer don’t use chemicals like herbicide as they can harm your wildflowers and is also not very environmentally friendly. 

Look into tools that will help you hand weed.  A few options are:

• Cobrahead – perfect for stubborn weeds that don’t want to come free
• Hori Hori Knife – part knife part trowel that both helps remove weeds but actually helps you in other gardening tasks like trimming small branches
• Hand Trowel – something most of us are more familiar with this tool will help you lift weeds easily.  They even have ergonomic handle options that are useful for those with arthritis
• Collinear Hoe – for those unable to bend easily this long-handled tool might be the best option, although this tends to focus more on surface weeds

When in Doubt Ask

There’s no shame in consulting a pro where you are unsure.  Speak to local garden center workers, look at online forums, research the plants and area, and look to join any local gardener meetups. 

Ask for help when you are unsure about something, you may even get some advice or handy tips for how to best care for your garden.

Wrapping Up: Thoughts to Grow On

Wildflower gardens are definitely a beautiful more ecologically friendly way to look at low-work gardening but do not mean a completely work-free experience.  You need to check the garden frequently for weeds and don’t let them go to seed.  Do your research, buy local and plant native to ensure your garden provides not only beauty but some benefit to the environment.  Remember it’s ok to consult with professionals when you’re stuck, allow yourself to grow from the experience. 

Contributing Author: George J Newton has perfected the art of the apology throughout the 10 years of his marriage while also working as a business development manager at Dissertation writing service.  In his spare time, he writes for sites like Next Coursework.