To think there must be a better way to get rid of these b*stard weeds

[3plantpots]

Hoping some practical green-fingered person can help, or at least sympathise.

Big garden, 10 week old baby, toddler...the garden has completely gone to shit. Ok I’m exaggerating - but the flower beds are so weedy they have more grass than flowers at the moment. I just can’t keep on top of it at all. Before anyone suggests, I already have A gardener but can only afford every other week. DH works long hours and only makes barmy suggestions like ‘do it with baby in the sling’ (ouch for both of us!) so he’s not help. I need a time and energy efficient way to get rid of the weeds, then keep it lower maintenance around the flowers & plants somehow...help?!

Dig up every weed slow time and cram with the plants you want. Leave no room for weeds. Take up every bit of space so nothing else can flourish.
Some “weeds” are ok. If they are pretty and not too prolific, let them go.

Try a kind of ‘fly lady’ approach OP i.e. aim to do a 5 minute stint (or even one or two minutes) of weeding each day. Aiming for a big chunk of time is just not practical with such small DC. If you have shade in the garden, could you park baby in a pram if they will settle that way , set toddler up with a few small garden toys and aim to do 5 minutes a day? (I would suggest getting toddler to ‘help’ but I’ve learned from bitter experience that this approach can backfire DS3 once saw me dead heading daffodils...turned around to find he’d stripped the flower heads off every single one gah.)

My best advice for weed suppression once you’ve managed to clear them is to spread bark chips around all your plants. It doesn’t stop weeds completely but it really helps (and looks nicer, and will also help the plants you want to thrive retain moisture).

Thanks both

@FlyingPandas sadly the baby isn’t up for daytime sleeping. At all. 😩 so very hard to get anything done unless I just ignore her for a bit! Toddler loves playing in the garden and given a hosepipe and sandpit will be happy for hours! Good idea re the wood chip

1. Ten mins every day
2. Focus on removing weeds that are thugs - bindeeed, alkanet, ivy, brambles, etc. Stuff like spurge and herb Robert are easy to remove, so much less of an issue if they grow big enough to spread/self-seed
3. Plant lots of nasturtium seeds; they'll germinate quickly, prefer crap soil, and their wide leaves will shade other weeds and suppress them. Plus you can put them in a salad!

Number 3 I’ve never heard of - won’t they also shade the plants and stop them growing?

Depends what your plants are: nasturtiums are low growing and trail, so should be fine.

I agree on little and often. Take photos before and after to spur you on! I am slowly working my way along a neglected stoned path and it's so annoying to think of the upkeep. I have a bed that I covered with bark and it has stayed quite weedfree so would recommend that once you've tackled the weeds .

We just mowed over the overgrown borders our garden and let the grass grow instead!

Now our dc are older we're starting again but very small with flowers, fruit and veg in various pots in front of the window.

Tell everyone you're embracing the biodiversity? (That's what I do with the nettles!).

If you think this is short term, and you have the sort of garden where you can, then tear up thick cardboard, like amazon packaging. Put the cardboard over the weeds avoiding precious plants. Weigh down with rocks. Soak in water. Leave.

By the time the baby is older the cardboard will have killed the weeds and if you then dig out the deep roots they'll not regenerate. I do this in my veg patch, but it only works if you have big spaces between plants.

If this isn't practical, pull all the persistent weeds (dandelions/bindweed etc) out by the leaves; you'll still weaken them even if you don't get the root.

Mulch does discourage weeds too.

I weed, plant as many plants as I can - less spade for weeds to grow then put layer of bark over to stop weeds

Baby in buggy with sunshade and off you go...

@BSJohnson

1) Ten mins every day 2) Focus on removing weeds that are thugs - bindeeed, alkanet, ivy, brambles, etc. Stuff like spurge and herb Robert are easy to remove, so much less of an issue if they grow big enough to spread/self-seed 3) Plant lots of nasturtium seeds; they'll germinate quickly, prefer crap soil, and their wide leaves will shade other weeds and suppress them. Plus you can put them in a salad!

No 3 is OK until the nasturtium become weeds themselves, they go crazy and have no bounderies.

Preemergent

@JudgeJ

Then you eat those fuckers up!

You're not weeding it all by hand are you? A good sharp hoe and a rake will make short work of most.

I agree with a few minutes at a time!
Try and make your garden as low maintenance as possible
At the front I have a border of flowering shrubs - with anti weed matting and bark chippings on top - rest is pebbles with a fountain then I have lots of big pots and hanging baskets
At the back mainly lawn n patio which just needs cutting and edging - again loads of pots, raised herb and salad beds - more hanging baskets and a water feature
Apart from watering in warm weather garden maintenance is less than 2 hours a week in summer - in winter can be left bar sucking up a few leaves

Yes a hoe on a hot day - just leave the weeds on the surface, the hot sun will kill them off. AND you get to make hoe jokes.