How to regain control of these mulch beds... *PICS*

J187

These are two large areas of bushes and flowers in front of my house. They were mulched nicely when I bought the house last year, but almost all the mulch has broken down and weeds have taken over. I didn't know enough about landscape to take care of them at first. Now, I think I'm getting the hang of it, but the damage is done. My question is, what is the best way to clean these up. If it were just a few scattered dandelions, I would have no problem, but there is all sorts of things growing like grass. If I just use a grass killer, then how do I remove ALL the growths? Do I dig and sift the soil back into the pile? Remove the soil alltogether and replace it?

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handy man88

Probably old fashioned elbow grease. Get down on your hands and knees and with a claw device, pull them all up. Then, lay down landscape fabric and mulch over that. Better do it now or wait until the cool fall. You'll regret it come July and August.

J187

Thanks for the reply. I want to do it ASAP, but I dont' think I understand. I dont' see how I could do it by hand, its like grass is growing there. I'm not sure the pictures do it justice, but Its like thousands of blades of grass spread all over, its not distinct weed plants with a stem that I can pull. Is there an effective way I can do area by area?

handy man88

I would water the area first, to loosen up the soil, and take a small hand claw/gardener's tool and pull those up one by one. You can also spray weed killer, but you'd risk killing your shrubs too. Or, an organic method is to mix 1 part white vinegar with 10 parts water and use that as weed killer.

johnny331

you need to add new mulch yearly, as it breaks down. simply blanket the area and that will kill the weeds.

blade

There is a couple products you could spray to kill the undesireables,then pull the big dead stuff and cover the rest with another 2-3 inc of mulch.

slakker

I also find that a dutch hoe works pretty good in combination with a good topping of mulch afterwards. Save me from getting on my hands and knees... but as it doesn't "remove" all roots, it requires a bit more regular upkeep. The good thing is that it's fast... I can do a 40' x 6' bed in less than 10 minutes....