How can I control weeds?

How can I control weeds?

My husband and I have tried numerous different approaches to controlling weeds in our yard. We spray weed killer, then try to sprinkle grass seed in its place and they just seem to keep coming back. Over the winter our weed problem in the yard has gotten even worse. Are there any tips that someone could give me in how to control the weeds best? I've heard that manually pulling the weeds out could be the best option, as opposed to just killing the tops of them with weed killer. Has anyone tried this method?
 
Spiritual or yard weeds - the answer is the same- weed and feed. Poison or pull the weeds and feed the grass. It works best when your surrounding b neighbors do it too. Otherwise it is kind of like chasing ant piles from one yard to the next.
 
If all else fails, contact the Virginia State University Extension Office in your community. They normally have a horticulturist on staff that is available for free consultations and is knowledgable in the various species common to your area. The Lowes and Home Depot Garden Departments are another possibility, but go during the week and during the day... otherwise you may get stuck with a part-timer on nights and weekends who is less than fully educated in this topic. Soil conditions, insect populations, common weed species, bird migrations (seed transfer), bee hive concentrations (pollenation) and rainfall averages are all important factors in getting the yard to look just right. Talk with someone who knows your area well. Good Luck!!
 
Thanks to all who posted advice on this topic!

We ended up going to Home Depot during the day and got some good advice from the guy there. Apparently we have chickweed specifically as a problem. The guy there was helpful and told us that we must enact a 5 or 6 step process of maintaining the yard throughout the year. I think that was our demise during the winter because we hadn't really done anything further to the yard since the spring/summer time. Now we know!

Thanks again!
 
These things (weeds) are impossible to control at my house. Whooo! I fought it for like the first four years...now I just rev up the mower and plow right over them.

I tried some weed killer, but it left horrible brown spots in my lawn (or what's trying to become my lawn). Thorns are the worst...I wait for them suckers to dry up, then I rake them together and dump them on the edge of my property to let the wind carry them off.

I try to get those little parachute weeds first, you know? The kind that kids make wishes on and then blow the little parachutes off? If you run over those with a mower it sends those little parachutes sailing all over your lawn. Then when you water the grass you also water them. I hate them. I spit on them! *ptoo!*

Thistles, I get early on. I go out and pull these up by hand. My first encounter with these bad babies was my last encounter.

Cheatgrass is everywhere on the res. But if I mow it while it's green, it looks like grass anyway and my neighbors don't have yards (green or not) so it still looks good from a distance.:eek:
 
Ugh, weeds are annoying aren't they?

I know many weeds you have to get by the roots, and their roots are really long and tough!

They're kind of like rats, they'll keep coming back.

I know we have them a lot around our roses and trees, especially in pots. I'm wary of weeds because some are poisonous to my equine friends, like ragweed and loco weed, which can cause miscarriages in pregnant mares and colic.
 
An early spring pre-emergence weed and feed fertilizer is a good start...you should be able to put it down right now, and then again later in the season, according to the label directions...your local nursery or garden center should be able to provide some expertise on this too...
 
I need to actually do some research on planting a tree. I dig down like 1 foot and hit rock. Nothing but rock. I've planted five or six trees since I moved into my new house...nope. They die. I water them and talk to them and hug them and play cards with them...but they still die.

In the summer, on the high desert, it can get 115 (f). In the winter, it can get -40 (f).

Weeds seem to love it here.:eek:
 
Hmm..I wish I could help you out with the tree problem. We planted an apple and a peach tree last year when we first moved in and they had some white fuzzy fungus on the branches, but other than that they've been doing great. I just sprayed it with a special tree fungus spray and it seemed to go away. I hope someone else can point you in the right direction :)
 
I apparently have superweeds in my lawn. I have been trying various chemicals, including Roundup, and they refuse to die. Now that spring is here, the battle begins anew.

I transplanted a volunteer flowering crab oncet upon a time. In digging it up, I cut the main root. I really babied that tree all the following summer as it had a delicate constitution due to its damaged root. It survived and is just fine now. I moved since planting it, so someone else gets to enjoy it.

I know there must be trees that grow in shallow, rocky soil, but I'm not sure any of them are what you'd call shade or ornamental trees. Up on the North Shore area of Lake Superior, there is what is called the "Witch Tree" growing on a rocky promontory. It's supposed to be a couple of thousand years old, if I'm not confusing it with another tree. In any case, it is quite deserving of its name, given its gnarled, twisted, scraggly appearance.
 
I know a contractor who worked long hours 6 days a week. He said he wasn’t about to spend any time on a Sunday just to cut grass, so he had his entire yard landscaped. He said it looks nice and not one blade of grass and no weeds.

Of course he had the money to do it, but he doesn’t have to spend money on a mower or gas and repairs now. I guess it all evens out in the long run. :D
 
I have no problem with the one in the lawn (we have a whole acre ;)), but the ones in my flower beds and around my fish :fish:pond drive me nuts!
 
I have one apple tree-it was really beautiful this spring-it is a dwarf Jonathon apple!!~!-Last year my -then 3 year old grandson picked the only apple-I had been babying along!~!-Little rascal-then gifted it to me!!~!-LOL!~!:D
 
I look forward to when we get our first apple and peach off the tree. That'll be fun. We got some mini peach buds a few weeks ago, but nothing edible.
 
find the people who sell out there own for riches,the ones who are cleverer than us.wait until there ripe,then watch the sun burn them.:D
 
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