Keeping your lawn and garden free of weeds, and doing it without the benefit of chemicals, might bring to mind nothing but the thought of aching muscles, a sore back and legs, and knees worn out from kneeling in the garden.

But, the good news is that there are other ways to get rid of weeds, and do it without nasty chemicals. These approaches don’t involved hours of hard labor trying to stay ahead of the weeds either.

lawn and garden
The first big change needed to begin controlling the weeds in your lawn and garden without chemicals is to properly prepare the soil for the areas in question. This would be considered laying the proper foundation where you will be growing your plants. It is best to implement the following ideas before doing your plantings so that you get your chemical-free weed control project off to a great start.

One of the best ways to avoid having weeds sprout up in your gardens or patio lawn is to kill the weeds though a process called soil solarization. This is a preventative approach and a completely organic way of eliminating weeds before they even have a chance to sprout. However, soil solarization does require a good bit of work, and is only effective if you can start planting the area with a clean slate.

lawn care
Another effective garden services approach to eliminating weeds from your lawn and garden areas is installing landscape fabrics. These specially manufactured fabrics will go a long way in helping you get rid of weeds without the need to spray toxic chemicals all over the landscape.

Utilizing garden mulch is another very beneficial approach to protecting your lawn maintenance and gardens from an invasion of weeds. While landscape fabrics work from below the prepared planting area, mulch is applied to the top of the soil, around your plants and can effectively smother a weed trying to break through to the surface. Mulch can also be used in conjunction with the anti-weed landscape fabrics for a one-two punch strategy of organic weed control.

Another added benefit of using mulch is that it also has the ability to provide insulation to your plantings. This insulation value is particularly helpful in the summertime and can help to keep the underlying soil both cool and moist. This will reduce the watering requirements and will also protect the root systems from damage caused by sever heat.

lawn maintenance
While some people have chalked it up to an old wives tale, vinegar can also help you control weeds without chemicals. It is the acetic acid in the vinegar that delivers an herbicidal dose to weeds. But, you will need a stronger variety than what you probably have in the cupboard and you can look for super-strength vinegar in weed and feed stores.

If you do decide you want to utilize vinegar in an organic approach to weed killing in your lawn and garden spaces, then you have to be careful to only apply it to the weeds and not to any of your plants.

Vinegar would be classified as a “non-selective” herbicide, which means it will damage anything it touches and because of this it cannot be used for lawns. But, vinegar can be a very effective organic approach to controlling weeds around your flowers and plants if you take careful aim when spraying.