Weeds Explained
Essentially, a weed is any plant that pops up where it’s not wanted and competes with other cultivated plants for nutrients.
Need help spraying or weeding on the Gold Coast? Contact us on 0408 314 314
Why Weeding Is Important
Weeding is not only great for the overall aesthetic of your garden, but it has a lot of positive impacts on the health of your plants. There’s only a certain amount of water and nutrients that soil can provide to plants, and if your plants have to share with weeds, it may not be enough to keep them alive. Also, if you let weeds grow too big, they can block other plants from receiving precious sunlight and their roots can spread and choke surrounding plants.
How To Weed
When it comes to weeding your garden at home, you have 2 choices: using your hands/hand tools and spraying your weeds with poison:
Hand Weeding
Video courtesy of Land Designs Unlimited LLC
Spraying
Video courtesy of gregthegardener
Weed Identification
In order for you to best treat your weed problem, you’ll need to know what types are in your garden at home. Weeds come in all shapes and sizes, but they can all be categorised into three main groups:
Annuals
For a weed to be classified as an annual, it must germinate and spread by seed and will last up to a year.
Annual weeds found on the Gold Coast include:
- Spiny Burrgrass
- Parthenium Weed
- Annual Ragweed
- Noogoora Burr
- Bathurst Burr
- Saffron Thistle
- Devil’s Claw
Perennials
For a weed to be classified as a perennial, it needs to return yearly and consist of long tap roots rather than seeds.
Perennial weeds found on the Gold Coast include:
- Perennial Ragweed
- Blue Heliotrope
- Mother-In-Law’s Tongue
- Singapore Daisy
- Lippia
- Giant Parramatta Grass
- Giant Rat’s Tail Grass
- African Lovegrass
- Mission Grass
- Torpedo Grass
Biennials
For weeds to be classified as biennials, they will have a lifespan of two years and in the first year germinate, before flowering in the second.
Biennial weeds found on the Gold Coast include:
- Wild Radish
- Fireweed
If you’re looking to find out what type of weeds are invading your garden, use this weed identification tool.
Tips For Keeping Your Backyard Weed-Free
- Weed a little often & keep your garden under control. Letting weeds grow too big before you kill them will cause them to spread.
- Don’t give weeds a chance to see the light of day by covering your garden with mulch.
- If you can’t pull out the weeds because the roots are too tight, the next best thing is to chop off their heads. This will stop seedhead from spreading when it rains.
- Planting closer together will reduce sunlight from hitting your soil & minimise the potential for weeds.
- Try to avoid watering any additional soil that’s not near your plants. Depriving weeds of water is good way to stop them appearing altogether.
- The higher quality soil you use, the less likely you are to develop weeds down the track.
If you need help taking care of the weeds in your garden, the team at Focal Point Landscape Maintenance have all the right tools to get the job done fast, efficiently and affordably. Contact us for a quote today or fill out the form below!
