[DavidK]

Although our home check service, Away Without Worries, does not control weeds other than ones that crop up in the driveway or sidewalk, this season we just could not pass by the weeds we were seeing as we checked the homes of our customers. It has been a hayday for the weeds in landscaping beds here in The Villages. The weeds really thrived in the hot dry weather. They are determined to enter through a seam or hole in the landscape fabrics. Some grasses actually find paths from the lawn to the landscape through the decorative walls and travel and grow on top of the fabric and root in the decomposed materials in the landscape rock or gravel. They get enough water from the irrigation zone to be happy and multiply. So, we have found that pulling them is a good starting point. Once the visible weeds are gone, the beds can be controlled with granuals or sprays like Preen, Roundup, and Spectracide. Care must be taken not to let the spray get on the plants or flowers. Some weeds try to thrive by growing inside the plants and they are hard to see at first but once they get above top of the plant, they need to be traced to the ground and pulled out by the root. Do this the morning after a watering. Preen is a pre-emergent and stops weed seedlings as they sprout. Roundup and Spectracide kill existing vegetation by contact with the existing plant foliage. Treat any herbicide with caution as you would any poison; wear safety glasses and rubber gloves and be sure to wash any exposed skin when done. Regular treatment with a pre-emergent and a herbicide works well.
Pull and Spray keeps weeds away!