Flower Gardens

» Barbara Nicholson Bell - Preventing weeds

Barbara, I'm looking for a relatively easy method of preventing weeds in my flower bed right now, before the season gets too far along. My perennial bed has crocus, daffodils, hyacinth and tulips, even one or two Allium. Right next to it is a very old Peony bed. I have not removed the winter's mulch of leaves yet, as we will have snow this week (still.) But most of the bulbs are sprouted and the crocus has bloomed.

Last year I used a mild weed-killer and put down a heavy layer of wood chips around the bed between the plants, but the weeds still came up and I finally lost the battle by the end of the summer.

The bed was prepared to prevent squirrels from digging up the bulbs: chicken wire over the bulbs and covered with soil. So I can't do too much digging down into the bed.

With my arthritis, it's very hard to spend time pulling weeds!