| While busy taking care of my terminally ill mother, I was unable to spend much time caring for my garden. My garden is now overrun with grabcrass. What is the easiest way to remove this, hopefully, without having to sacrifice my well-established greenery? |
| In the landscape, crabgrass can easily be controlled with mulching, hoeing, hand-pulling when the plants are young and before they seed, or with solarization. In shrub beds, bedding plants, or around trees, mulching with wood products (wood chips, nuggets), composted yard waste, or synthetic landscape fabrics covered with a mulch will control the germination and establishment of crabgrass by blocking sunlight needed for its germination and growth. The depth of a mulch depends on the size of the particles: coarse mulch may need to be 3 to 6 inches deep to control all weeds, whereas a finer mulch may need to be only 2 to 3 inches deep. Crabgrass is easy to control in both turfgrass and ornamental beds with herbicides that are applied before it germinates (preemergent herbicides) or after it germinates (postemergent herbicides). Read the label to make sure the product can be used on your turf type and around the ornamentals in your landscape. Best wishes with your landscape! |
