Think Twice Before Letting Your Weeds Get Too Big Before Pulling

Weeding isn't the easiest gardening job, especially when these unwanted plants begin to spread throughout your flower beds. One way that people try to make pulling weeds easier is by waiting until the weeds are very big. While this may seem like a good idea, in reality, it is not. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Tiffany Selvey, House Digest's Garden Editor and Master Gardener, shared why letting your weeds get big before removing them isn't a great idea and what to do instead.

"I wouldn't recommend letting weeds get big before pulling them for a few reasons," Selvey said. "Any unwanted plant is going to compete for nutrients and water, which can weaken the plants you do want. The bigger it is, the more resources it will need. Also, if you wait too long to pull those larger weeds, they may produce and disperse seeds. That will lead to even more weeds to deal with." According to Selvey, the only benefit of letting your weeds grow is that they can initially be easier to remove.

Getting weeds out of your garden can be a pain, especially when it seems like there are more growing every day. There are many weed removal hacks you'll wish you tried sooner, but there are also other so-called "remedies" that don't actually work. Another trick that homeowners have tried to help with weeds is to grow plants so their leaves overlap and create shade underneath. The theory is that this will prevent sunlight from getting to the weeds, which would impede their growth. 

In House Digest's exclusive interview with Tiffany Selvey, she explained that, like letting your weeds grow large, this hack is also not beneficial. "I can certainly understand getting tired of weeding, but to prevent other weeds from growing, sunlight is only one part of the equation," she explained. "If you've pulled weeds from a shade garden, then you know that keeping the soil shaded isn't an effective solution."

Picking weeds and keeping them out of your garden can be a challenge. If these two hacks don't really work to make the job easier, what is a better solution? There are other methods that do work, like tricks to help prevent weeds from growing in your gravel. Tiffany Selvey shared some other tips to keep your garden weed-free when she spoke exclusively with House Digest.

"As the saying goes, 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' Preventing weeds from growing in the first place will certainly avoid burnout when weeding," Selvey said. "A few inches of natural mulch like straw, leaves, or pine needles will prevent seeds from sprouting and smother the ones that do. Adding a layer of sheet mulch like newspaper, cardboard, or paper bags under your mulch provides even more protection."

Once you know the right hacks, keeping weeds away from your garden is easy. Then, you can move on to thinking about other ways to make your flower beds better. For instance, check out these plants you should have in your garden to naturally enrich the soil.