You can pull weeds by hand, taking care to remove the roots as well as the foliage. It will be easiest to do this a couple of days after either a shower of rain or watering.
Don’t miss the most important weeds to pull. Look for unwanted broadleaf plants such as chickweed (Stellaria media), hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), and purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum). There are also some weedy grasses to watch for at this time of the year too, including wild oat (Avena fatua) and wild barley (Hordeum pusillum). If you miss taking care of this gardening task now, some of these weeds can eventually produce thousands of seeds per plant, and certain weed seeds can remain viable in the soil for years.
Another way to suppress weeds is to apply a layer of mulch over the soil. This can limit the light available to weed seeds and leave you with less work to achieve a tidy garden in the spring. A layer of mulch that’s 2 to 3 inches thick is generally recommended.
Author: Jonny
Author of Gardening Life!