New gardener, help!!!

Hey guys. Never used this site before but i am looking for some of the keen gardeners to help me. My garden is a very mature garden and when i moved here there was soo many weeds! I have finally spent 5 hours this morning weeding the front garden, all around the border of the grass and a bit just outside my front door. I dont want them to come back now so now that i have weeded them and got them from the root and overturned all the soil, what can i do to stop them coming back! They were out of control and i really cant face doing that again! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Laura x

 

Firstly... Welcome!

As for your weeds, you've turned the soil over. There will be weed seeds in the soil which were buried and are now on the surface. They will grow. To stop this you could apply a layer of mulch to the top of the soil. It stops the weed seeds in the soil from getting light and they don't grow. It's good for the plants too!

The hardest part is starting in a mature garden. Don't think weeding is a job you have to do every month when it gets a bit messy. Get the little weeds as soon as they start to show. A 2-5 minute ponder around the garden beds each evening keeps everything tidy and the roots don't get anywhere near as big.

Have fun gardening!

 

Welcome Laura, yep weeding is backbreaking! You could use a weed killer if any of the weeds are on a path or nowhere near an expensive/beautiful plant. I spray my paths every couple of months and no hand weeding needed. I have pesky ground elder and horsetail so nasty that all help in preventing them is welcome. Mulching is also a great idea and would cut down hand weeding to make the job lighter. Do you want to use chemicals?

 

Hi and welcome Laura! I can say from bitter experience that is definitely better to weed little and often rather than waiting. Having learned my lesson, I now go round every Sunday at the moment, but obviously that will reduce as the weather changes and growth slows. Next year I will probably weed 2-3 times a week during May, June and July to keep on top of it even more. As per the answers above, I'll also be looking to mulch next year when the garden's been landscaped and planted. Good luck!

 

Hi Laura,

Welcome to Gardeners Corner,

I think everything's already been said really, but, one thing you could do until you mulch is get a hoe and gently hoe around your plants about once a week.

Have fun gardening and remember we're all here to help

 

Welcome to the forum, hoe little and often makes the job far less daunting

 

Thank you all so much for your help. I will take all of these tips on board and no doubt as the process goes on of me making my garden beautiful i will continue to ask questions when i get stuck. So glad i found this forum because i didnt know who else to ask. Every time i google i find that there ahould be a gardening dictionary lol, i dont know all the gardening language yet, but i will get there thanks to all of you so thank you all! X

 

Hello Laura, a very warm from me too!

 

Jeez! Ive just weeded the drive way today, which has stones up both sides and in the middle part. I feel like my back is going to break. Its such a challenge weeding! I even thought about "hmmm, wldnt it be easier if the drive was monoblocked" lol! Getting there, slowly but surely x

 

Keep up the good work! Remember to appreciate the progress you're making