Why can weeds grow without water?

When is the best time to clear weeds? When is the second best time? This may seem like a joke, but there's actually a lot of truth to it, the sooner you get rid of a weed, the less chance it has of multiplying and taking over the entire garden. A weed is simply a plant that grows in unwanted places. These are the names that immediately come to mind when talking about weeds: dandelions, thistles, crabgrass and chickweed. But what exactly makes these such effective growers! Weeds are gifted with the ability to spread easily. These characteristics include: rapid seed production, rapid germination and establishment, long periods of seed dormancy, and the ability to colonize high traffic areas.

Weeds compete with grasses and garden plants for space, light, water and soil nutrients. Not only do they look bad and reproduce quickly, they are also the perfect host for diseases and insects, and weeds can turn out to steal your plant health.

The best way to prevent weeds from spreading throughout your garden is to stop them before they take root. Knowing how to prevent weeds means it's not a one-time job, but an ongoing one. But even those who pull weeds are reluctant to do so because they know that preventing weeds when they appear, or quickly after they sprout, will take less time than eliminating an established weed infestation. Consider taking the following steps for a weed-free gardening experience.

1. Cultivate with caution

When creating a new flower bed, you cannot avoid tilling or cultivating by hand. This is the best way to aerate the soil and incorporate organic matter. What you can’t see are the weed seeds buried beneath the soil surface. Moving them to the top of the soil wakes them up and encourages them to germinate. Once you have established a new garden bed, avoid unnecessary tilling unless absolutely necessary.

2. Chemicals

If you are looking for ways to stop weeds from growing, consider choosing chemicals. Pre-emergent herbicides prevent weed seeds from germinating. They are tailored to target specific combinations of weeds or weed families. Simply apply pre-emergent to your garden in early spring or after planting, before weed seeds begin to germinate. Pre-activated by water, so be sure to set up the click control sprinklers in your garden setting after you've treated the area. Apply water to absorb the herbicide to the seed level for best results.