Maintenance Notes
Notes to ourselves about how to maintain our gardens and lawn. Purely informational, as a reference for us. If you have the same plants in your garden, we hope you find this information useful. Please also share your experiences with these plants if you have had any!
In the front gardens we have a problem with the “Spotted Spurge” weed. Here’s what I’ve found in my initial research:
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Management: The primary method of managing spotted spurge should be prevention—it is very difficult to control this weed once it is established. Avoid bringing spotted spurge seeds into uninfested areas: use weed-free planting seed and uncontaminated planting stock. Clean machinery (lawn mowers) and workers’ clothing to remove any weed seeds that might be present. Infested areas must be constantly monitored to cultivate or hand-pull new plants before they produce seed. Plants that are hand-pulled often break at the stem, leaving the root and several buds or a single stem from which regrowth is possible. Germination can be reduced if it is possible to bury the seeds or add a layer of mulch to cover them. When mulching, put at least 1 inch of a fine mulch or 3 inches of a coarse mulch (bark, etc.) on the soil surface. Be careful that seeds do not get on top of the mulch or they will germinate and grow there. Before planting areas to turf or ornamentals, soil solarization (covering the soil with sheets of clear plastic for 5 to 6 weeks during the summer) may be an effective method of reducing the viable seed population in areas where summer temperatures are hot (90°F or higher).
We’ve tried pulling these, but they grow back each time more abundant. I’ve been afraid to put herbicides on them due to our new plants. I think they’re all established now, so I think I’ll give the herbicide a go now, then in late winter use the pre-emergent herbicide to prevent new ones from growing. It also sounds like our idea to put mulch down would be OK, but probably not thick enough to have the impact we want on the weeds. In addition, it looks like the purple flowers (I’ll add the name later, can’t think of it now) will eventually cover at least the first third of the garden next the house, and is pretty dense, so that might be the best solution going forward.