Even the most enthusiastic gardeners will admit that weeding in winter can be a miserable experience. The biting cold wind, the wet wintry showers and the mucky conditions can make it a frustrating and challenging task. However what is more frustrating is seeing your otherwise neat flower beds and planters being taken over by messy weeds, so here I am going to give you some tips and tricks on how to make the weeding less of a weekly issue and more of a monthly maintenance job.
The main thing to prevent weeds cropping up is to limit their sunlight exposure. There are a number of ways to do this, mulching, mypex membrane, and cardboard. Each have their pros and cons which I will explain here;
Mulching-
This is basically covering your area in shredded material to discourage the weeds, retain moisture and it can sometimes be done for aesthetic reasons depending on the mulch.
Materials that can be used are , bark, straw, shredded leaves, gravel, grass clippings and even rubber. Each of these materials have vastly different strengths and weaknesses, I wouldn't be a fan of the rubber mulch for instance as it can leach into the soil but it can be very useful in areas where you have no plants and want to keep it that way!
Straw and bark are great for the plants as they tend to compost down with the soil adding nutrients for the following year.
Mulch will generally do a good job slowing the weeds but it won't stop them so you will still have to weed a little bit but it's a good method for reducing the frequency that you'll need to.
Mypex Membrane-
This is great to put down before you have planted your bed, putting it down around plants can be a little work intensive and this far into the bad weather you may not want to bother but certainly one to keep in mind for next year's planting.
It is excellent at preventing the weeds from coming up but it can be an issue in dry areas as it can prevent water from properly getting down into the soil. Due to its tight weave it can also cause a little too much water retention in wet areas and cause soil compaction. It's a great choice for under gravel paths or sloped areas.
Cardboard-
Now this is a solid favourite of mine. Quite a few people will have a surplus of cardboard boxes just begging to be used and if you don't you can ask your local shop or supermarket and I'm sure they would be happy to give you a couple. Be sure to remove all tape from them and only use boxes without a glossy sheen, the plainer the better. Once you have done this clean the area around your plants and lay the flat cardboard down next to them overlapping as you go. You can then put a layer of bark on top if you want to make it look a little more natural. The cardboard is extremely effective at stopping the weeds and will have rotted down enough come spring that you can simply dig it into the soil.
So instead of battling through the winter weeds make life a bit easier for yourself and try out one of the methods above.
